Anything More
by flarkcon
Summary: Ryuuken and Uryuu. Father and Son. Alike in blood, and yet it is their blood that drives them apart. When the world changes into something unfamiliar, they try their best to stand alone, though Aizen has his own plans in mind. A new arrancar will be born.
1. Those Daft Punks

_Alright, honestly this is my first fan fic. Any commentary would be great. It takes place before everyone jumps off to Hueco Mundo, but a short time after Uryu (Uryuu?) gets his powers back. The story is generally Uryu and Ryuken (Ryuuken?) focused, and will include a few of the older characters. The first chapter is solely introducing the premise (really, a prologue of sorts), so if you can stick with me there is much more to follow. Finally, I have to give a writing credit to Doodle Master at DA. She's a good friend who got the idea ball rolling, and continues to push it along. Enjoy._

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**Chapter 1: Those Daft Punks**

An arrow grazed Uryu Ishida's face. Behind him, a crater had been carved into the wall. Blood dripped from his wound, mixing with his sweat. It was a warning shot. He knew that if his opponent had wanted to hit him, his head would be splattered on the wall. This was just a reminder.

A flash of light.

Uryu quickly side stepped. Another arrow flew past him. It was one more crater in the basement wall.

Uryu panted. A centimeter closer and the arrow would have impaled him through the chest. Concrete dust billowed around him, obscuring his view. Out of the cloud his opponent's voice echoed.

It sounded like death.

"I thought I told you to keep moving."

Uryu knew the voice well. He had heard it all his life. It was his father's. It was his enemy's.

Ryuken's figure emerged from the dust cloud. His face was emotionless, while staring at Uryu's fragile body. His bow was aimed at Uryu's head.

"Do you want to die?" His voice was as cold as his visage. Ryuken's arrow grew bigger. He had no remorse for what he was doing.

Uryu didn't budge. The arrow's glow encompassed the room.

"Start running Uryu. This time I'm not going to miss." Ryuken released his arrow. A second later, he could see nothing but dust.

Ryuken brought a cigarette to his lips and lit it. Its fumes wafted over him. Parts of the wall had crumbled into the ground. Walking over to where the debris lay, Ryuken let out a puff of smoke. Uryu was already gone.

Uryu ran alongside the wall, counting his steps. He needed to be precise, or his plan wouldn't work. The last attack had given him an idea. Unfortunately it also required him to be in a lot of pain.

Too late, he could sense three arrows following him. He took a breath.

The first one was aimed at his knee. He jumped. The arrow collided with the wall. Another crater.

Here he had to be careful. He landed, leaping back. The second one dashed in front of him, piercing the same wall. Bits of debris shot out of the wall, tackling him in the chest.

The third arrow was set on its objective, Uryu's head. He ducked. The arrow smashed into the wall, dropping some debris on his skull.

A fourth arrow hurtled into the wall. He didn't expect that one. Barely eluding it, he fell onto his stomach. Air escaped him.

Uryu picked himself up, grabbing the indents on the wall. He pulled his arm back. A bow materialized before him. Through the dust he could see his father, calmly walking towards him.

Three arrows flew at his enemy. Ryuken responded with three of his own. They swallowed Uryu's arrows, and zeroed in on his head. Uryu dropped out of the way at the last second. Three more craters formed on the wall.

Another four arrows, all pointed at his heart. He whirled around, sprinting in the opposite direction. The arrows crashed into the wall one by one.

Two more aimed for his chest. He jumped up. A seventh one plunged for his head. He forced his body to fall. The arrow collided with the wall. Uryu collided with the ground.

He cursed, picking himself off the floor. His body ached. Somewhere he was bleeding. He could taste it. Uryu wouldn't last much longer. Luckily, he only needed a few more shots. Uryu hurdled himself back up into the air.

Six arrows soared after him, each one slightly higher than the next. They were targeted for every vital organ in his body. Uryu had been waiting for a shot just like this. Edging his foot on the side the wall, he threw himself across the concrete. He heard his head smash before he hit the ground.

Regardless of the pain, he smiled. It was all part of the plan. Grabbing onto the dents in the wall, he pulled himself up. His arms ached. His head throbbed. And he was going to win the fight.

For a brief second, his enemy stopped attacking. He realized what Uryu had done. A silver tube knocked off his foot.

"Tilt the goblet to the west - Emerald Grail!" Uryu yelled.

The room shook. Volcore exploded near the base of the wall. Cracks linked between all of its imperfections, trembling at the seams. Uryu watched as it collapsed on his father's head. Rubble covered the ground where he once stood. Smoke blanketed the battlefield.

Uryu frowned. He couldn't sense Ryuken's spiritual pressure. It was impossible. Either he was hiding or he was dead, and Ryuken didn't die so easily.

Uryu stared at the ruins. Chucks of concrete littered the floor, obscuring anything underneath. He could still hear the rocks settling. Uryu didn't dare approach it. That was exactly what Ryuken expected him to do.

"This is so unlike you, father!" Uryu crept backwards, "I thought you told me it's cowardly to hide from your opponent!" His voice echoed around the room. What was left of it. There was no response.

He spun around. Where could Ryuken be? The shadowy room was vast and complex. Paths ran into other. Stairs ended with no purpose. Inaccessible platforms hovered over them. He could be hiding anywhere. He took another step backwards.

"I was never hiding, Uryu."

Ryuken's spiritual pressure returned. Uryu gulped. He was directly behind him. He felt a foot plunge into his back. Uryu smashed into the ground. He scrambled to his back, holding out his bow with three arrows ready. Ryuken scoffed.

"You useless fool." Ryuken threw a Seele Schneider at Uryu's tattered clothes. It lodged his arm to the floor. Uryu tried to rip the sword from shirt. He was too slow. Another one flew at his remaining arm, pinning him to ground. He struggled, twisting and turning in place. It was to no avail, the Seele Schneiders kept him in place.

Ryuken stepped on his chest. Uryu felt the sole of his shoe stab into his ribs. His father drew a blinding arrow. It was aimed directly at Uryu's head. It was over. He had lost.

Ryuken took his foot off Uryu.

"If I had been an arrancar, you'd be dead." Ryuken said. He pulled the Seele Schneiders out of Uryu's clothes, dropping them onto the floor. Uryu watched him turn his back and leave.

"I would have to disagree," Uryu countered. He was standing up with his bow drawn. Ryuken kept walking.

Uryu released an arrow, slicing a piece of Ryuken's hair. For a moment there was silence between them. Uryu blinked. When he opened his eyes, Ryuken held a Seele Schneider at his throat. He could feel the blade vibrating spirit particles. He was being threatened with a chainsaw.

"That's too bad," Ryuken replied. Uryu watched the sword drop from his hand. It clanged against the ground. The echo ran through Uryu's mind. He was still recovering.

His father lit another cigarette and sat on a piece of debris. He glared at Uryu, watching his astonished face. He let the smoke out of his mouth.

"You're pathetic." Ryuken coughed. Uryu strengthened his resolve. He was tired of suffering his father's endless tirade, a world of constant insults. He wasn't about to let this one go. His eyes grew fierce.

"Then what the hell are you?" Uryu yelled back, "You're an introverted freak! Your wife and father are both dead, and all you ever do is wallow in your own bile! What makes you any better than me, _Ryuken_!"

"Get out," His father bit into his cigarette.

Uryu stormed out of the hospital basement. His scars bled as he walked, marking his clothes. He had had enough of his father.

Ryuken watched his son walk along the path leading out of the facility. His back staggered as he walked. Hearing the entranceway doors bang shut, Ryuken took another puff of his cigarette. It became another echo. _How little he understands_, Ryuken lamented.

He looked at what remained of his training ground. The place was barely recognizable. The walls were scarred, the ground had been levelled and debris littered the ground. He grumbled. He was going to need a wrecking crew to fix this place.

He let out another breath of smoke. It was inconsequential. He would fix it somehow, and Uryu would find a way to break it. He was beginning to loathe these training sessions. They always ended the same way. He knew he was going to regret agreeing to train Uryu at some point. But, he had promised, and Uryu had made a promise in return. It was his bargain, he would at least hold his end.

He let his body rest on the concrete. He couldn't get Uryu's accusing eyes out of his mind. Even he could feel their gaze, trying to see right through him. Ryuken had seen them many times before. He had been their target long before Uryu was even born. Those fierce eyes, it wouldn't be the first time he had made them a promise. It was so many years ago, in the very same hospital he lay in now. It was first promise he had failed to keep. He tried not to think about it. Promises of the past should stay there.

The door creaked back open. Ryuken could hear footsteps approaching him from behind. Only two people knew about the hospital's basement: himself and Uryu. Whoever had entered was neither. Ryuken already knew who it was. He just didn't know how it was possible. Ryuken took another puff of his cigarette, and prepared himself for what came next.

"That's a dirty habit you know" Ryuken heard a voice boom.

"Isshin," Ryuken sat up and brushed the dust off his coat. He could see the man moving towards him from the corner of his eye. His doctor's coat hung on his shoulders, sporting a pink shirt underneath. A black tie dangled round his neck. He smiled, waving to Ryuken as he walked. Isshin Kurosaki was obviously fresh from his clinic. Ryuken forced a sigh. It was bound to be a long day.

"You should learn to knock before entering someone else's property" He said. Isshin grabbed him by the shoulders. Ryuken shrugged him off, "I can tell you to leave that way."

"Come on! You wouldn't do that to me, now would you?" Isshin joked, pulling at his jacket. Ryuken coughed indifferently. Isshin sat down beside him, fanning the smoke with his hand. He looked around nervously.

"Wow, Uryu really did a number on this place," Isshin laughed, patting Ryuken on the back. Ryuken turned away, staring at some distant piece of debris. He never liked being reminded. Isshin's smile wavered. He dropped to his back and glared at the ceiling much like Ryuken had done earlier.

"I haven't seen you in a while, Ishida," Isshin pushed his hands behind his head as if he were gazing up at the stars. Ryuken gave a subtle nod. For a while, neither of them said anything. They didn't need to. It was scene of mutual understanding.

Ryuken broke the silence.

"Why are you here?" Ryuken asked.

"I can't be here to talk to an old friend?" Isshin replied. Ryuken could see Isshin shifting towards him, trying to guess his response. Ryuken pushed his glasses up with his thumb. He hated when Isshin tried to patronize him.

"Isshin, we haven't talked face to face for three years. Why are you here?" This time it was a demand. Ryuken did not want to be taken lightly.

"You got me," Isshin said. He smiled again, and crossed his arms over his waist as if someone had caught the punch line to the joke he hadn't finished. Remembering his purpose, his face went grim. "Urahara said to keep a close eye on Uryu,"

Ryuken said nothing. He wasn't about to follow the advice of some dead crackpot, who spent his time running an outdated convenience store, let alone allow him to give him parenting advice.

"Uryu can take care of himself," Ryuken said. He leaned his head back . "If he gets into trouble it's not my problem,"

"What if Urahara has a point?"

"Then it's up to Uryu to keep himself alive. Why would I waste my time?"

"You're terrible,"

"Yeah. He told me as much."

Isshin sighed, closing his eyes against the concrete. Ryuken let the silence settle in once again. He never liked to keep a conversation for too long. He always found that they became pointless quickly.

This time it was Isshin who was the first to speak.

"I think I should head out, it's getting late." Isshin pushed himself off the rock, jumping to his feet. Ryuken gave a sign of acknowledgement. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the concrete. After a few minutes, he could hear Isshin's footsteps approach the chamber's doors. There was one thing he needed to ask. It had been disturbing him since Isshin arrived.

"How did you get in here?"

"The same way you did. I took the stairs," Isshin laughed. Ryuken heard the door slam shut. It became another echo. Echoes, echoes, that's all he seemed to hear today.,

Ryuken scoffed at the absurdity of that statement. The stairs, it couldn't be that simple. He would've had to find them first. The walls were lined with soul-synthesized glass and silver, making it impossible to know the room even existed unless one looked at the original blueprints. The only possible way that came to mind was tunnelling under the foundation of the building. Ryuken considered it for a moment. He immediately pictured a laughing Urahara slicing a hole through his wall. He wouldn't put it passed the old bat.

Ryuken took a drag from his cigarette. He sighed, it was almost completely burnt up. He reached into his pocket. Damn, none left. He would have to buy another pack on his way home.

He inhaled his last for the day, coughing slightly. He surveyed the room, instantly wondering why he bothered to get up in the morning. He was going to have to deal with Urahara and this mess at some point. Deciding to put it aside for the night, he walked over to where he had left the Seele Schneiders. He frowned. He needed to have a serious talk with Uryu.

**Omake!**

Ichigo: "Hey, Dad! Do you have a secret training ground too?"

Isshin: "A sign of weakness! Falcon Kick!"

Later

Uryu: "I guess some people aren't deserving of such things."

Ichigo: "What are you saying...?"


	2. Never Say Redo

_Alright so here the story truly begins. Though If you are a returning reader I suggest you read the first chapter again, as I cleaned it up and added a conversation between Ryuken and Isshin. I thought it made it feel a bit more complete and gave a better impression about what the whole of the story was going to be about._

_WARNING: EXTREME OOC. I found Orihime a weak character and I have trouble introducing a plotline with a ditz at the heels. In the end, I gave her my own flair. Whether that's an improvement or not is entirely up to you. Any comments would be appreciated.  
_

_So here you go Chapter 2. Enjoy. _

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**Chapter 2: Never Say Redo**

**Ten Days Later  
**

A white cylinder rose from the floor beneath. Orihime gulped, unsure of what to do next. She ran her fingers over its top edge, trying to find some way to unlock it. She had watched the bizarre safe open once before, breaking apart apart with a mere tap. Finding a weakness, she pressed her thumb against it. The cylinder clicked in response. Surprised, she jerked her hand back. The cylinder unfurled into chain of small disks. Orihime peered into elaborate hideaway, and heaved a sigh of relief. She had found what she had come looking for. Before her was the Hōgyoku.

The Hōgyoku gleamed in the darkness of Aizen's throne room. Orihime found herself staring at it. With so little light, it looked nearly majestic. It was nothing like the first time she saw it. She shuddered. The first time she saw it, Aizen revealed the gem to her personally. He made her nervous. It was something about him, about his demeanour, which made her want to run out the door screaming. Not that she didn't want to before. Just as she had, he drew the cylinder from the ground and watched it separate into pieces. He showed her Hōgyoku. At the time it appeared dull, worn from repeated use. It looked nothing like it did now.

Aizen. His voiced still echoed in her mind. She remembered he had called the event a sign of trust, she called it intimidation. He had to be manipulating her somehow; it was obvious that Aizen never trusted anyone. Though, she couldn't deny it had made an impact. After watching him pull the Hōgyoku from the earth, she had gained a purpose. She was going to erase it from existence.

Las Noches was quiet. Good, she needed it that way. Everyone (and everything) was asleep. Even Aizen lay dreaming somewhere. If the arrancar awoke to find that she was in the midst of destroying their master's most prized possession, they would tear her to shreds. Yet, the Hōgyoku would remain unfazed.

Of course, there was the matter of the security system. Since she had walked into the room, she had felt the cameras watching her. Every so often, she heard the whir of the lens, zooming in on her position. In truth, the system rarely worked; Tosen was the one watching them. It was another one of Aizen's forms of intimidation. He had installed so many cameras in each room that even if Tosen weren't blind, it would be impossible to monitor all of them at once. On that note, Orihime almost grinned. Lolly and Menoly weren't the best secret keepers.

In the end, the cameras were still doing their job. Her palms were shaking.

Orihime continued glaring at the Hōgyoku. She didn't know whether to leave it there or move it from its case. The cylinder didn't have an alarm, but the case might. Best to target the whole thing, if it doesn't exist there wouldn't be any alarm to trigger, she reasoned. She noticed how had changed. She was no longer the carefree girl she had been a few months earlier. Being in a constant war meant she had to grow up a bit. She wouldn't have lived long otherwise. Not in Las Noches at least. She glanced around one last time. She was alone. And with what she was about to do, she would be for a while.

In all honesty, she never expected to see Ichigo, Tatsuki or the others again. Still, it hurt to know that once she managed to remove the Hōgyoku, she'd be dead. There was no question about it. If Aizen didn't kill her, the arrancar would. At least she knew what awaited her on the other side. She tried to grin at that, but couldn't. There wasn't much time left, she had to get started. With that finality, she said:

"Soten Kisshun, I reject."

A bright light burst from Orihime's hairclip, sending forth Ayame and Shun'o. Hesitantly, they formed an oval shield over the cylinder. They looked sporadically between Orihime and the object they were supposed to be healing, uncertain of whether their own lives hung in the balance. Orihime sighed. It would be 'morning' by the time she finished. She put her hand in front of her target, trying to improve her concentration. There, she waited for the dawn.

"What are you doing, Miss Inoue?"

Orihime froze. She could hear footsteps coming nearer. How did anyone know she was in here? It was too late to worry about that, someone was standing a few feet behind her. For a fleeting instant, Orihime wanted to turn around and see her tormentor. Her body refused. Instead, she merely shifted her head and tried to steal a glance of the intruder. She could see only darkness. If he was there, he was covered in shadows.

"Inoue, Inoue, Inoue," the voice teased. "Our master, Aizen, is always watching."

She didn't say anything. She barely reacted. Her body was in complete shock, and the creature's grin wasn't helping. Orihime stood helpless as the arrancar drew nearer with every breath.

"Why so surprised?" He mocked her horrified expression, "Oh! I know! You thought this would work!"

The arrancar laughed.

Orihime cringed as it echoed throughout the room. She looked at her hand. It violently shook in front of her. She grabbed it with the other, willing it to stop. She turned back to the Hōgyoku, trying to ignore him. The arrancar wasn't there for Aizen. He couldn't be. There was no way Aizen could already know. Besides, Aizen wouldn't send this lunatic, he was too unpredictable. Would he? She tried to concentrate on her goal. Her hand started twitching again.

She was afraid, and the arrancar was thoroughly enjoying this.

"You know what Miss Inoue! May I let you I on a little secret?" The voice boomed. He waited for a moment, expecting an answer. Almost disappointed, the arrancar continued.

"Aizen specifically asked me to bring you to him, and things would be a lot easier if you just came along."

"No."

That single word was all Orihime could muster.

"I was hoping you would say that."

A fierce wind blew by Orhime. Suddenly, her shoulders felt heavy. It was the arrancar's hands.

"I think you should know, Aizen never told me _how _to bring you."

Orihime's eyes widened. She had watched enough horror movies to know where this was going.

"I could drag you along like a doll," He grabbed Orhime by the throat and unsheathed his sword. The point was at her neck, "or, I could bring you in pieces!"

Chuckling, the arrancar dragged the sword along her neck. Orihime's pulse rung in her ears. She could feel the sword digging into her skin.

"Are you going to kill me?" She gasped.

"Sorry Miss Inoue, that's not how my Zanpakuto works."

The arrancar put his sword back in his sheath. Orihime inhaled, coughing as the air rushed back in. Blood lined where the katana had just barely pierced her throat. Satisfied, he let go of her.

"Congratulations! You just met Veneno, my Zanpakuto. I like to think he's different from the others." He grinned, "it's poison based."

It took a second for Orihime to realize what this meant.

"Every time it makes a cut on its foe, it releases a poison into their bloodstream." He pulled Orihime's head back so that they were looking eye to eye, "and now, that poison's in you, Miss Inoue!"

He let go of her again and took several steps back.

"How long do I have until-"

"Until you're hopelessly paralyzed? About three minutes. Then I'll scoop you up and we'll swing along to Master Aizen." He watched as a look of defeat came over Orihime. His grin grew wider. "Hmm, let me make this a little more fun. How this? I'll let you do whatever you want until then. Use your time wisely!"

Orihime bit her lip. She had only three minutes to destroy the gem. No, she had less than that. She could already feel her body becoming weak. To the contrary, the Hōgyoku was only gaining in lustre.

"Well? Come on do something!" The arrancar laughed at the futility of the situation. She had no chance, and pretending to give her one was a torture within itself. Orihime hid her face within her hands. She had no idea what she was going to do. There wasn't much she could do. Smirking, the arrancar sat complacently a few feet away.

She was crying. There wasn't enough time. She had been trying to keep herself together since she had entered the room, but this was too much. She didn't have the capacity to erase years' worth of history in mere seconds. Her shield disintegrated, and she fell to her knees. She was done. There was nothing left she could do but wait for the poison to take her. She never was of use to anyone, a waste of flesh who could accomplish nothing.

"Orihime,"

She looked up. Shun'o and Ayame were glaring her.

"Stop crying Orihime." Shun'o whispered. She and Ayame were hovering in front of Orihime, a finger in front of their lips. "We can help you,"

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Orihime opened her mouth as if the to say something. Shun'o shook her head pointing to the arrancar behind her.

"You can do this. It's just going to take a little help from the rest of us,"

Ayame nodded, swooping closer to Orihime. She whispered instructions into her ear.

"But you can't ever do this again. Got it?"

Once again, not sure on how to proceed, Orihime bobbed her head. She didn't understand what was going on, but she was going to take any opportunity to try again. If they could help her like Shuno said, it would be a second chance. Out of her defeat, Orihime smiled for the first time in a while.

Shun'o and Ayame frowned. They could feel something was coming. Orihime's hairclip shook. Instinctively, she grabbed it. A light shot out between her fingers.

"What the hell do you two think you're do-!" It was Tsubaki. Shun'o and Ayame had grabbed him by the mouth to stop him from screaming. He looked more enraged than usual, waving his arms up and down. The fact he was being gagged didn't help.

Orihime stared at them. She her legs were going numb. Whatever they wanted to do, it had to be fast, she wasn't going to last more than another minute. The three members of the Shun Shun Rikka felt it as well and looked back at her. Tsubaki shook his head.

"She's not ready yet. She won't be able to fucking control it!" He whispered heatedly.

"We don't have any other choice!" Shun'o countered, motioning for Tsubaki to keep his voice down. "And we have to help her, right?"

"There's gotta be another way!"

"Hurry up!" Orihime screamed. The other three were blown aghast. Orihime herself was shocked. She rarely raised her voice, but they had only seconds to make a decision. The arrancar looked over his shoulder.

"I'm disappointed, Miss Inoue. I didn't think you would give up so easily. However, I'm not one to deny a lady her desires. I'll just kill you!" He got up, rubbing his hand to together in glee. Orihime gulped. She had cut short any time she had left. Tsubaki ducked his head, and disappeared into the hairclip. With death on the horizon, there would be no other way.

Orihime stood up. She had made her decision. No one was going to make it for her.

"Soten Kisshun, I reject once more!"

Determined, Shun'o and Ayame formed a healing shield over the Hōgyoku. Orihime's instructions had been simple. She had to extend the shield, and force all of her will into it. It grew inch by inch, until it encompassed not only the Hōgyoku, but the entire room.

All around Orhime was a brilliant light of her own creation. It was blinding. If she couldn't reverse the Hōgyoku from existence, she would reverse the room until the point where the Hōgyoku didn't exist within it. Pushing her hands towards the ceiling, she concentrated all of her remaining strength into the shield.

The arrancar looked impressed.

"Now things are becoming interesting! This is the fun I was looking for!" He roared, appraising the throne room. The shield covered every corner of it. He was surrounded by light. That didn't stop him from smiling. "It's too bad that I'll have to end it!"

He reached for his sword, grabbing nothing. It took him a moment to realize it was no longer there. Surprised, he looked down at his hands. He howled in pain as they grew transparent. He could feel his body piece by agonizing piece becoming intangible.

"You…you monster!" He shrieked.

Orihime faintly heard the arrancar's scream. He wasn't beside her anymore. She stared as he phased backwards through the hall, reaching the entrance and disappeared. As did his poison.

Glancing around the room, she felt like she was watching a tape in rewind. It was exactly as she wanted, everything transpiring backwards. She didn't question why it wasn't affecting her. She was too ecstatic that it was working. The room hummed as it traced itself through time. It began as whispers around her. They were voices of the past. The room was revealing all that had happened within it. Life was reversing before her very eyes. Amazed, Orihime failed to notice Ayame and Shun'o's screams.

Images formed around Orihime. They were human or close enough. At first, Tosen was walking behind her. He picked up speed as Wonderwice appeared behind her. They walked around the room, Tosen appeared to be trying to talk to Wonderwice, though he seemed more interested in the colour of the ceiling.

Vanishing, they were replaced by Aizen followed by Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. They sped throughout the room like an old British comedy, before disappearing also. Gin materialized out of the air, but evaporated just as quickly. The next image was of Halibel, and Apache, who disappeared faster than Gin did. Then for a brief second, she could see a brief outline of Stark. It faded away. The images now appeared as quick flashes, appearing and disappearing with less than a second in between.

Orihime was beginning to panic. She could no longer differentiate an image from another from another.

The images were moving too fast. Tsubaki was right. She was losing control. The images transformed into flashes of light. She could hear her own shield cracking, echoing like thunder. Spinning, she couldn't discern anything apart. The room's hum became Ayame 's and Shun'o's screams. What had she done? Blinking once, it all transformed into light.

It soon overcame her. There was nothing concrete. All that was left was panic. Orihime plugged her ears with her fingers, closed her eyes and did what she did best. She screamed.

"Stop! Stop! _Make it stop!"_

With that, there was silence.

* * *

**Present Day**

"Hey chick, you lost your mind or something?"

Orihime opened her eyes. For second she saw nothing, the light still burning in her eyes. Glaring up, she saw Grimmjow's face looking curiously back at her.

"I told you to heal my scar! Hurry it up; or you'll end up like Luppi here will," He grinned, turning his attention elsewhere. Orihime heard frightened response.

"Don't do this Grimmjow!" Luppi yelled. He was backing away, looking around wildly for any escape.

Orihime took a look around for herself. She was in the throne room. Like before. Except now, so were others. She could see other people's shadows, but they appeared blurry. It was as if she was looking through an unfocused camera. What was it Grimmjow had asked her to do? The words repeated in her mind. _Heal my scar._ Wait. She had heard something like that before. Didn't she already heal it the day she arrived? And right after she healed it…

Luppi. He was supposed to be dead. She had watched in revulsion as Grimmjow tore him apart, blasting him in half with a cero, after impaling him with his arm. The last few seconds replayed in her mind. She was in the exact same situation, and she was just as helpless she was before. It was history repeats itself, taken literally.

"Chick, I'm tired of waiting!" Grimmjow yelled. Orihime flinched. She didn't remember this. Something was different.

Grimmjow stormed up, and grabbed Luppi's cloak by the collar. He pulled Luppi close so that he could see his grin. He opened his mouth to scream. Of course, it was very different sound that came out.

"Cero!"

Luppi's head disappeared into the blast, flinging it across the room. His body was left a violent stump, twitching about like a dead chicken.

Orihime stared at Luppi's seizuring body. She was shaking again. Her fear had returned. Grimmjow walked back towards her. Grabbing Orihime by the coat, he raised her into the air.

"Now hurry up and heal me, bitch. Remember, _I am the Sexta Espada._ And it's about time that meant something again."


	3. What have you done?

_Chapter 3. Yes. Not much to say about this one. Isshin, Ryuken and Uryu are back in this chapter, as Orihime digs a hole for herself somewhere. Oh, and every character experiences the 'change' that happened in the last chapter differently, so watch out for that. Enjoy.  
_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 3: Hurry Up and Run/Why Don't You Care?**

A yawn escaped Isshin Kurosaki's mouth. He didn't have much sleep the night before. Much to his discontent, he had been awoken by a call from Urahara Kisuke:

"Hey Isshin, Would you mind coming down here, I need a favour," Urahara asked, sounding as nonchalant as usual.

"God, do you know what time it is?" Isshin groaned.

"Thirty-three minute passed four in the morning." Urahara stated matter-of-factly.

"Thanks for reminding me. What do you need?"

"I'd like you to deliver a message to Ryuken."

"Why can't you tell him yourself?"

"He won't answer my calls."

"Surprised?"

"Not really," Urahara concluded. Isshin grunted, he didn't need to ask. There was no way Ryuken would ever respond from a call from Urahara. Ryuken barely answered his.

"Fine, what is it?" Isshin bemoaned.

"Just come by my shop, it'll be easier that way,"

It was evening by the time Isshin got around to visiting Urahara. The shop was open, but by the time Urahara himself arrived darkness was creeping from the sky behind him. Despite the time, he gave Isshin the message; and a method of getting it there.

Urahara _loaned _him the usage of his underground tunnel system, showing him one that supposedly lead right into Karakura Hospital. When Isshin inquired about them, Urahara informed him that there were 'a few' that ran throughout Karakura Town, going to all the crucial points in the city. A network of passageways, or so he called them, running throughout the city, all of which culminated at the Urahara Shop. Isshin had entered the burrow apprehensively. It was dark, murky, and Isshin had no idea whether it would lead him where Urahara had said it would. When he told this to Urahara, he had given him a torch and a teddy bear. Isshin was not impressed.

Despite his anxiety, half an hour later he found himself in the middle of a stairway. He could hear Uryu fuming up the stairs. A door slammed shut. There was a depressing silence in the air. He had to be at the right place.

And now, he was glad to be to leaving.

He exited the way he usually did, the front entrance. Pacing away from the building, Isshin had to admire the simplicity of using a door. It didn't leave mud on your shoes, didn't make you sweat, and it was a hell of a lot easier than how he got there.

"Spirits are always with you! HAHAHAHA!"

Isshin tapped at his jacket, trying to figure out where the voice came from. It was his cell phone. Pulling it out of his pocket, he checked the caller id.

_Home._ He pushed talk.

"Dad, where are you? You've been out for hours." It was Karin.

"Sorry! I started talking to some old friends, and I guess time just flew by," Isshin said nervously. He didn't understand why he was so uneasy, he _was_ telling the truth. Isshin had trouble trying to keep his children out of his 'spiritual affairs'. Ichigo was his first mistake. He never wanted him to have to fight the battles he did. Though, after seeing what he had accomplished; Isshin couldn't help but feel proud. Now he had to be careful that Yuzu and Karin didn't get dragged into it.

He looked at his watch. _Damn._ It was already ten o'clock.

"Alright. Just hurry up and get home. Yuzu won't put food on the table until you get here." Karin replied. There was a slight twinge in her voice. She was starting to suspect something.

"Will do. See you soon!" Isshin waited for a second. Hearing no response he went on: "I love you,"

"Yeah, whatever," Karin hanged up. Isshin wished his daughter reciprocated his affection, but children her age rarely did. Still, she wanted him home and that was good enough.

He hurried away from the hospital, grinning a little more than he should. He had a family to attend to.

A few minutes later, Isshin was standing by the curve of some suburban road. A taxi was supposed to pick him up.

Isshin had stopped moving. An overpowering feeling of concern and doubt had abruptly come over him. His forehead throbbed. He gazed around him, not positive on what had happened. It was in the air. He could feel a distinct change in the way the wind was passing over him. He took a breath. There was more to it than that. Isshin couldn't figure the difference, but he was experiencing it. _Was this what Urahara was warning Ryuken about?_

He pushed it aside. There was no point worrying about it. It was intangible; like waiting for someone who'd never show up.

Isshin looked back at his watch.

_10:30PM_. The taxi should have been there by then. He let out another yawn, careful to cover his mouth.

_If it takes any longer, I might have saved time by walking home. _Above him, the street light flickered, and the wind blew past his dishevelled hair. Against Isshin's face, he could feel the wind carrying something with it. It felt heavier, pushing with greater strength than usual. Isshin learned to notice these things. Nature had a good handle on delivering a message; why ignore it?

It reminded him of Uryu.

He had seen him pant up the stairs in between the hospital and the training ground. Isshin had wanted to greet him, but decided against it. Uryu looked furious. Isshin hoped he didn't walk straight outside in that state; his body covered in scrapes and bruises. The wind would feel like a constant slap in the face. Maybe a little more.

Isshin had to wonder what had happened between Uryu and Ryuken minutes before. Uryu had appeared to be pretty damaged. Ryuken must've nearly killed him. He considered his relationship with Ichigo. He'd never be able to deal that amount of punishment on Ichigo, or any of his kids. He didn't want to see his children in pain, particularly if it was inflicted by him. Did Ryuken feel the same way?

But Uryu looked…_Ryuken, did you really have to do that?_

Isshin pulled on the collar of suit, and brushed his hand through his hair._ Ah, who am I to say. _ Ryuken believed that was the method to teach Uryu how to fight. Uryu was Ryuken's son, not Isshin's. He knew how best to treat his son. Isshin sighed. Ryuken always did. Even when –

Isshin twitched.

The air pressure had shifted. Isshin could feel it on his body like an extra 20 pounds. It was a spiritual pressure. It was one of Aizen's men, or more likely, one of his dogs. It was trying to send a point across. It was hard to misinterpret; a burst of reiatsu only meant one thing. _Don't mess with me._ And it was intended for someone in particular. Isshin felt sorry for them. They weren't going to last very long.

_Where is it?_ The location. He could feel where it was though the sound of its heart, beating as if he had his ears to its chest. It was a couple miles from where he was standing. Isshin checked again. It was less than a kilometre away from his home.

_Yuzu, Karin…Ichigo. _Isshin pulled out his cell phone. If it got too close to the clinic, Ichigo would be the only one able to protect them. Unless, he had already gone after it.

_It was so much easier finding him when he couldn't hide his reiatsu._ He rang the number, and placed his cell phone next to his ear. Waiting for an answer, Isshin glared at the end of the street. He could see headlights approaching, followed by a yellow taxi cab.

_About time. _

"Dad?" Karin answered the phone. She sounded annoyed, and had every right to be. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to console her.

"Karin! Is Ichigo home?"

Karin didn't say anything.

"Karin?"

"He said he would drop by later,"

"If he gets -"

"Where is he Dad?"

He could hear the unease in her voice. There were several answers Isshin could give, and he had given them many times before. Only one of them was the truth.

Recently, Ichigo had been spending most of his time training with the Visoreds. They were a cautious group. No one knew much about who they were or what their intention was. Isshin didn't know much about them himself, other than what Urahara had told him. They were shinigami-hollow hybrids, much like his son was.

He couldn't tell her that. Ichigo would be to one to explain what he did, and who he truly was. Instead, he went for his usual answer:

"Don't worry about him. He's probably out with some friends like he usually is." Isshin nearly bit his tongue. He had taken a second too long to explain. She knew there was something wrong.

_BEEP-BEEP _

The taxi driver had pulled up beside him, and waved for him to get in. Isshin gestured for him to wait.

"But, Dad –"

"I'll see you in a few minutes. Sorry, my cab just arrived. I'll talk to you later. I love you."

"Bye," Again, Karin was the one who hanged up. Isshin put the cell phone back into his pocket. Karin wasn't the only who was disappointed.

Isshin stepped inside the taxi, stretching out his legs. He had been standing longer than he had intended. For the final time, Isshin looked down at his watch.

"So, where are you headed?" The driver asked, trying to get a good view of Isshin in his mirror.

"Do you know where the Kurosaki Clinic is?" Isshin rested his head on the back of the seat.

"Sure do. That's where my wife got her stitches done," The driver said heartily.

"Yeah, I heard they're great guys. Could you step on it?"

The driver pushed his foot a little harder on the gas, "What's the rush? Got family on the operating table?"

"Something like that."

* * *

That night, there was a wind; a random breeze that seemed to originate from nowhere. This was the second thing Uryu noticed as he left Karakura Hospital. The first was a sudden sense of fear and caution that had come over him. He couldn't understand it, but something felt different. It was as if the clouds were aligned the wrong way, or the night sky was a slightly different shade of grey. It was eerie, but Uryu didn't pay too much attention to it. He had felt stranger. It was the wind that bothered him.

He had thundered out of _his father's _hospitalin such a huff; he had forgotten to treat his wounds. His body was still scarred from his fight with Ryuken. And the wind stung with regret. Against it, his blood boiled, and his face felt raw. Though, the part that stung the most was that it reminded him of a question he'd been asking himself since the door slammed behind him. _Had he been too hard on his father?_

Uryu refused to reflect on it. Whatever he said his father deserved.

_Did he?_ Uryu never pretended to understand Ryuken's viewpoint. He was so isolated. Alone. Where did he spend his free time? Does he even have free time? Uryu couldn't remember the last time he saw his father do _anything_ that wasn't work-related. _Why?_ There was an expression his father once used. 'Save the living'. It was his answer to everything. It was why Ryuken insulted him, why he denied his Quincy name and rejected their principles. Until a few days ago Uryu wouldn't have thought any different but, _he decided to train me_.

Uryu shook his head. There was nothing to reason. Ryuken worked for the breathing, while he dealt with the dead. There was sure to be collisions. He hoped the next one didn't end with him dead.

His distant expression, his provoking composure; maybe there was something more to 'saving the living'. He gazed around, watching bits of trash gust about the street. One of them, a bottle cap, picked up speed and hurled itself towards him. Uryu caught it between his fingers. He sighed. The wind certainly thought so.

Uryu stopped. He looked behind him. The hospital was only a few steps away. The smart thing do would be to walk back in. It would be warmer in there, and he could wait for the breeze to die down. More importantly, he could ask the nurse for a few band-aids, get stitched up and put on a bandage or two. They were always in excess in the stock room. The nurses wouldn't mind. They might even recognize him, considering he was the son of...

He pushed up his glasses with his thumb, turning back towards the road. He wasn't going back in. He could endure the pain until he got home. Home; after all that had happened to him, the word had lost its meaning. He was going somewhere with a bed. There was nothing else to say about it. Uryu started walking, the wind stinging a little more with every step. It was better than facing Ryuken again. Uryu didn't want to owe him more than he needed to.

He ducked his head, and started to pick up speed. The wind still brewed around him, his flesh burning. It was bound to be a long walk.

Marching against the wind, Uryu closed his eyes. An hour passed.

Uryu found himself waiting at an intersection. He glared at the traffic light, daring it to change. When it didn't, he frowned and he tucked his hands in the pockets. The wind was still there.

At least tonight, it was quiet. Uryu liked it quiet, especially outside. With his father's attempts at training and occasionally attempts at murder, he hadn't gotten much of it. Though, by nature Karakura Town was a difficult place to be at night. There were few night clubs to keep the unruly kids occupied. The kind that aimlessly started fights that they had no intention of finishing. Few street lights didn't make life any easier. Without them the streets were encompassed in the shade of night. On the more suburban roads, it was hard to see passed the outline of your skin. And of course, there were hollows.

These days Karakura Town was swarming with hollows. It was abnormal. A small city like Karakura shouldn't have so many of them. The amount of vengeful dead almost equalled the living. Uryu had tried tracing the reason back once, but never seemed to get very far. It always ended with a certain Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki. They were always at the centre of it all.

Like the town, today the hollows were quiet. There were no cries for blood, no screams from the innocents and no clashing of swords. He hadn't sensed a hollow in days. This implied either Kurosaki was finally doing his job right, or they were being held back for some reason. Thinking back on it, Uryu had to doubt it was the former. Ichigo was never good at keeping track of the little things.

The light turned green.

Uryu took a step onto the street. Catching it the corner of his vision, a truck raced forward, passing through the road at a red light. Uryu jumped back, stumbling into what he assumed was a wall behind him.

_Idiot. _There was no point of saying it aloud. The driver wouldn't hear him, and he'd look like a fool. But today he wanted to yell. Only his sensibilities held him back.

Rubbing off the dust, Uryu felt a tap on his shoulders. He turned around. Immediately, a series of items came to mind. The first was pink hair. The second of which, was that he had not jumped back into a brick wall.

"Ah, you must be the Ishida-boy I was looking for." The man behind him looked indifferent, searching Uryu for a sign of confirmation. Uryu's distinct shock was an easy one. He reached out his hand, as if to grab Uryu like a handbag, "I am Szayel Aporro Grantz, and I shall be your escort,"

"Escort…?" Uryu stumbled for words.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, escort," Szayel nodded, satisfied with his new specimen, "And before you ask; _no_, you do not have choice in this. You are coming with me."

* * *

Ryuken rested his head on his left hand, while the other tapped his desk intermittently. He glanced back at the paperwork on his desk. It was nearly neck high. He had trained Uryu for two hours and what was his reward? Disrespect and a pile of work.

His hand stopped tapping. He picked up the topmost form. It was an approval form for a new patient. All it required was his signature. His finger ran up the stack of paper, giving him a brief glance of each sheet. They all did. He put a small mound of paper in front of him, clicking his blue biro. No use complaining, he had this work done before he went home. He worked at a hospital. People never stopped getting sick, and this grind wasn't going anywhere.

Three sheets in, Ryuken heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," He said grudgingly. One of the younger nurses opened the door, a clipboard in hand. He looked at her impatiently. She bowed cautiously, wary not to overdo it.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ishida, but there's a Mr. Kishimoto here to see you," She said, reading the name off of her clipboard.

"Tell him to come back tomorrow. I don't have the time right now," Ryuken made a slight motion with his hand, indicating the work in front of him.

"He said it can't wait. He has an appointment, sir."

"He'll have to reschedule. Sorry, but I can't be bothered now," He turned his attention back to the stack of approval forms in front of him.

"Yes, sir. I'll tell him."

When he didn't say anything else, the nurse took this as her cue to leave, and scuttled out the door.

The moment she shut the door, his hand stopped writing. He put down the pen, and glared at his office walls. They were plain, like he had intended them to be. There were no pictures on the wall, no lines of wallpaper. It was just a simple blue line running across the white background. Ryuken pushed the papers aside. Behind them, was a blurred family photo taken when Uryu was two. Uryu was crying, tossing about, while being held in his mother's arms. Ryuken stood sternly in the background. Not much had changed in the intervening years.

He needed to check something. He wanted to know if Uryu was born with those eyes. The eyes of clairvoyance he had seen earlier. He grabbed the photo, rubbing it with his fingers, hoping it would get clearer. It never did.

He groaned. He was getting distracted. Putting the photo back on its stand, he grabbed his pen and continued signing. After his first signature he stopped, staring gradually between the paper and the ballpoint pen. The ink was black. He could have sworn the ink was blue when he started. He glanced through the other papers he'd signed. All of them were signed in black ink. Ryuken shrugged off the difference. He was getting a migraine.


	4. Midnight Waltz

_Alright. I know it's been an inasnely long time since I updated. I know. School caught up to me and my computer suddenly desired the descruction of my sanity for DELETING THIS CHAPTER EVERY TIME I WROTE IT. Somehow this iteration managed to survive, so here it is. Due some extra consideration on how the plot should turn out, the timeline from which this Orihime originates from is one where the Shinigami don't tell Ichigo and the others where Orihime is until later, and then they never attempted to rescue her because Uruhara told them that it would be better for them to wait for the shinigami to try something. Hence why she's been there for two weeks and no one ever showed up. So the current story takes place ina universe where Urahara already told Ichigo n, and never approached Uryu, instead senting Isshin for Ryuuken as seen in Chapter 1. There will be some changes in Chapter 2 to better reflect this. Please don't get lampooned on the Sci-Fi aspects of the plot. They're more a frame of reference for why this scenario even exists._

_TL;DR: Here's Chapter 4. Hope you enjoy it.  
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**Chapter 4: Midnight Waltz**

"Miss Inoue," Aizen said, pouring a liquid reminiscent of Earl Grey into a china cup. "Have some tea." Orihime kept her eyes fixed on the drink as it travelled from the teapot to the cup. She didn't want to see whatever expression lay on his face.

When the tea hit the rim, he immediately stopped, wiping his hands together before moving to the other end of the table. Orihime heard the chair move out and in, allowing Aizen to sit down. When he settled down, he made a small coughing noise to signal her attention. She didn't look up, instead choosing to watch her swirling drink.

Aizen made another cough, louder this time. Orihime gave him a quick glance, hoping that would be enough to satisfy. She instantly felt that she had made a mistake. Aizen had that look, the one where no matter what you did or how you did it, it was wrong. And he could do it better than you. The man looked at her expectantly, leaning his head onto the back of his hands. Orihime's fingers started to tremble. _It isn't supposed to happen this way._

"I really do suggest you drink. It's good tea. I would like to say it's the best in Hueco Mundo," Aizen chuckled. A moment too late Orihime made a weak smile and fumbled for her cup, spilling some of her drink. Noticing the table had become wet; she paused and mopped up the mess with some nearby tissues. Then again she beamed and tried to shy it away as a quirky mistake.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm such a klutz." Orihime laughed, perfecting her smile. She intended it to sound endearing, like '_Well, you're the one who brought me here. I guess you'll have to deal with my antics.' _ When Aizen seemed to ignore her comment, she went back to staring at what remained of her drink.

Brandishing a cup, Aizen poured some tea for himself. When it was full, he brought the tea to his lips and drank. Placing it down on its original spot, he fell back into his previous stance.

"Hmm," he mused. "I think it gets better every time I taste it." Orihime blinked. There was something horribly wrong with scenario. She had been through these events once. She had lived for two weeks past this day, in all of which never did she have this meeting with Aizen. Something had happened which had changed the original course, and now she was having tea instead of being locked in what would become her room.

Orihime wanted to consider this to be an improvement. Tea was considerably better than being trapped. However, in every piece of fiction she had encountered, changing history hardly turned out for the better. All they told her was that any change would lead to an apocalyptic future with some variance of a revived Hitler or dolphins taking over the earth. In comparison to having physically time travelled, Orihime was not one to wonder whether these outcomes were too absurd.

With the man's continued stare, she decided not to think about it and finally took a large gulp of her tea. She made a genuine grin. Aizen was right. Whatever kind of tea it was, it tasted fantastic.

"Understand, it's these little things which prevent anyone from doubting me."

Orihime nodded. Her satisfaction must have shown because he was quick to respond.

"Good. Let us get to the point, Orihime." At the sound of her first name, Orihime put down her cup and looked towards Aizen. "How do you think the world will be two-three weeks from now?"

Orihime hesitated to speak. It could be a general question, like the kind they ask on an interview or a homework assignment. But this was Aizen. Everything he said had a purpose behind it. With this in mind, she gave a careful reply.

"Hmm, let's see. I don't know. Almost anything could happen in around two weeks. There could be…" There was more that she had to say, but her voice halted at that. There was something about Aizen's demeanour that told her she should stop.

"Anything?" Aizen smiled. _"_Then we have the same idea for the future. I'm glad you agree with me, because I have a few changes in mind." Orihime felt her heart plummet into her stomach.

"What do you mean?" She stuttered. There were more questions floating around her head, though the most crucial one was not the one she asked. In the confusion between her brain and her lips they had all merged into the vaguest phrase she could conceive.

"Orihime, did you think your little trip went unnoticed?" Aizen asked, sounding more surprised than he was; not at all.

"How-?"

"How do I know about your venture through time? That's a question my Espada would also be keen to understand." Aizen caught her before she could choke out the rest of her question. Then when he spoke again he raised his voice. "Kaname, let them in."

At the other end of the room, the door yelped open. Orihime wanted to hide beneath the table as the arrancar poured in one by one, but kept her place. She sat as straight as she could, with an almost pleasant expression on her face. It was an unfortunate fraud that didn't play off as well as she thought it did. Luckily, most of the arrancar kept their eyes on Aizen. He was the most demanding figure in the room. By comparison, Orihime might as well have been one of the chairs.

She looked out for Grimmjow and Ulquiorra but they ignored her just as much as the others. Only one of the six allowed their eyes to stray. He looked her up and down and then licked his lips. Orihime cringed inside.

Watching them enter was reminiscent of seeing the freak-show at the carnival. They were all strange or disfigured in some way with their masks a unique signature of their being. She could label each of them by their masks, The Man with an Extra Jaw, The Man with Horns, and The Man with an Oar on his Face; all staples of Aizen's violent cavalcade.

Methodically, they all fell into their chairs and then turned them to face their lord. Orihime decided to follow suit and looked away from the awkward appearance of the Espada.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the Espada. As you can see, Yammy, Szayel and Barragan, could not join us for today's meeting." Orihime made a mental roll call of the room. There were two chairs empty on either side of her. "I apologize for the sudden meeting but there has been a change in circumstance. Our plan is going to fail."

The Espada gave him an odd look. Even the ones who had previously appeared indifferent perked up. There were a few that appeared stunned. Orihime tried to picture what the arrancar were thinking, seeing as she had only a vague understanding of the situation and was quite puzzled. Nevertheless they waited for him to continue.

"I imagine many of you are confused about this realization. We have been carefully organizing this plan for months; how could I know that it would fail? Unless of course I've seen the outcome. And I have, more or less." Orihime thought she saw him wink at her, although she doubted it. He was a maniac, not a conceited manga villain. He continued, "Kaname, visual please."

A translucent sphere materialized in the centre of the table, phasing in like static on a dial television. It displayed a black fuzz with the words _Input Needed_ written in block text. "This morning, our research department recorded a temporal distortion occurring in our foyer and preceding today's incident involving the Sixth Espada." As he spoke the sphere played footage of that morning's affair alongside a series of charts and graphs measuring something Orihime found incomprehensible.

The Espada seemed to understand or were at least intrigued and paid attention to both halves of the sphere. The video sped through the morning's activities, only slowing down when Orihime entered the frame. She watched as her figure approached a wounded Grimmjow with a bearable degree of confidence. Then she stood there. Orihime assumed the device was broken until she saw the look on her face, complete and utter horror. The corresponding data spiked at this point, veering off the Sphere's viewing range. To compensate, it automatically scaled back the readings until they were viewable again.

The video continued until the scene between Grimmjow and Luppi, where it powered itself down and disappeared. Grimmjow beamed when he saw the ferociousness of his attack while the others gave him looks of admiration, distaste and indifference. From what Orihime gathered, no one at the table really liked Luppi anyway.

"From what we have gathered, our current strategy is set to fall into a battle of attrition with no clear victor for two weeks. Now, are there any questions?" Aizen proposed. Orihime watched for the arrancars' reaction. They were divided. Many of them were apathetic to the explanation. Through most of the monologue, Grimmjow had given an interesting _I'm bored but don't fuck with me _expression. The others gave similar looks, varying between tired and blatant unconcern. They didn't need a lecture for what they did; they simply carried out their Lord's orders. Warriors of their calibre did not need to be sat down and taught why they fighting, and all that bravado. Orihime imagined Yachiru's friends would have reacted the same way to the news, although a little more sword-happy.

The remainder was tense, with sweat underneath their brow if it could be seen. They looked between each wondering if they were allowed to object to the absurdity. They sent looks to mild surprise to one another before finally resting their eyes on Ulquiorra who returned their bemusement with a cold stare. As if negotiating some bargain with their eyes, Ulquiorra seemed to be in agreement after they exchanged a couple glances.

"Lord Aizen, is there any physical evidence of your claim? Excuse my insolence, but those statistics you exhibited have little meaning to us," Ulquiorra asked mechanically. Aizen was amused by this response. Ulquiorra made a subtle nod with his hands which detailed both that it was not his opinion and that he couldn't care less about any of these scientific musings. That was the research's department's responsibility, not his. Orihime caught several of these nuances with a veiled interest.

"Evidence? Why I do believe I have just that." Aizen pointed to Orihime. The arrancar all shifted towards her. "We have her to thank for this information." Orihime felt her hands claw against the edges of the table pushing her deeper into her chair.

Finally, one of them had enough and blurted, "What is this all about? What does this girl have to do with anything?"It was the one with a paddle covering his face. His hands trembled as he spoke, despite his attempts to draw attention away from it.

"Please, don't be rude. This girl is our guest; and coincidently from that future." Aizen appeared as stagnant as always. He had been anticipating this outburst. "Miss Inoue, could you please recite to us three of Szayel's fraccion?"

Orihime paused. It wasn't a difficult question for her; she knew the answer. During her original stay in Hueco Mundo, before any of this madness had occurred, Szayel was the one who would take her from her room down to an experimental facility hidden underneath the main structure of the Las Noches. He would perform what Orihime considered mostly passive experiments alongside one or more of his fraccion. What bothered her was the smile he made afterwards. _Are you going to play?_

"Lumina and Verona" She said ultimately. Then the third one, "Enire Vapore." It was hard to forget him. The interested Espada members gasped.

"She not only knows his fraccion, but can inform us of a member who was initiated yesterday. Does this need my explanation?"Aizen gave Orihime a nod, _Thanks for playing._

Everyone was quiet, even the anxious members seemed to calm down after that announcement.

"Good. Any further questions should be addressed to the head of our research department when he returns. Now, for the real reason of our meeting. As a result of this change in circumstance, we are commencing our experimental phase a month early." He gave Orihime another quick look. _Ready for your reward?_ The sphere boomed back to life and radiated an image of a boy Orihime thought was familiar. "And as per our plan, we will be gaining another member soon. Everyone, meet what I hope to become the newest member of the Espada, Ishida Uryu."

Orihime covered her mouth before she could scream.

The previous occasion she had seen Uryu was a month ago in her recollection of time; she had no idea it had actually been. When she last saw him, his abilities had abandoned him and he had gone off to train somewhere. She could see in the corner of the image Szayel waiting for a response from the boy. Uryu appeared tired and broken, though she realized that at full strength Szayel would still be able to overpower him.

"What do you make of our decision, Miss Inoue?"

_Asshole_. Orihime ignored the question and dropped her hands to the table. She glared at them for a moment then closed her eyes and wondered if she kept them closed long enough, Aizen would disappear.

* * *

Uryu had to run. It was not a desire, but an imminent urge to dash in the opposite direction without even conceiving of looking back. Yet, he knew how fruitless the venture would be. It hadn't taken Uryu long to realize what he was dealing with. Pulling at the soul. He could sense two more aside from Szayel's; however they were faint. Szayel's reiatsu overwhelmed the others like bad stench.

It was difficult to deduce how strong he was, but it had to be stronger than he was in his current state. He barely had enough energy to walk, nevertheless fight one of these beasts.

Uryu gave the figure a quick looking over. The arrancar was dressed in a gown reminiscent of a doctor's uniform. There was a chance that the arrancar was a part of a weaker medical division but it didn't seem too likely that they would send a medic on a kidnapping assignment. Besides, his father was a doctor and he didn't seem to have any trouble fighting Uryu off.

"You're going to take me to Aizen?" Stalling. His mind began sewing a method of escape together.

"So the boy thinks," Szayel gave him a babying smile. "Yes, this is all for Lord Aizen. But, honestly, who did you expect? Who else would want the scraps of your dead clan?" Uryu could think of at least one person.

"What does Aizen want with me?" Another useless question. Even if he did explain the totality of their plan the only help it would give Uryu was some more time to think. This time the arrancar showed a guarded expression, but answered immediately.

"Give yourself up and you'll find out." Szayel said, his grin starting to fade. "It doesn't have to be difficult. In fact I'd prefer it that way; it would save me time sterilizing you." Uryu flinched. The idea of this effeminate creature sterilizing him was not one he wanted to linger on.

"Let me see if I understand. You won't hurt me or anyone else if I decide to leave with you?" He took a step backwards, keeping his eyes on the arrancar. Szayel frowned.

"Boy, you're trying my patience." Szayel folded his arms as if he needed to visually assert his irritation.

"You haven't answered my question." Uryu said, taking another step behind him. Szayel eyed him briefly, before appearing to light up with smile.

"I see what this is. Please, don't tell me you're thinking of escaping." He waggled his finger in front of Uryu in a tone that said _Oh, that's cute, but better luck next time_. "I'd hardly propose that as a viable option. I have you cornered." Hurting this arrancar suddenly became higher on Uryu's to-do list. Uryu slipped another foot behind him, careful to avoid any traffic. Running was still at the top.

"Sorry, that road is closed. Enire, grab him."

Smoke billowed around Uryu, building up behind him. On instinct he held his breath. Out of nowhere a foot jammed into his stomach. Uryu started coughing and sucking the air into his winded body. He felt his arms become restrained and a blade by his throat. The smoke gathered together and materialized into a body. A hand was holding his arms together while the other hung a jagged sword at his neck. The sword twisted closer to Uryu's skin. Uryu pushed away, but Enire simply made his grip tighter. There was a small laugh as Uryu tried to squirm out of the figure's grasp.

"Enire, don't be rude. Introduce yourself before you make a mark on the boy." Szayel signalled for Enire to lower his sword. The arrancar complied, if only reluctantly.

Enire made another laugh and put his head beside Uryu's. Uryu recoiled at the sight of Enire's face. It was an inhuman white as if he had applied make-up to him appear more intimidating. All in all, it wasn't necessary.

The most striking aspect of his face was his mask. It was familiar. Uryu recalled an old documentary from his history class explaining chemical warfare. When one side released a poisonous gas into the atmosphere both combatants would be forced to wear gas masks unless they wanted to suffer an agonizing death. Enire's face was reminiscent of one those masks cross-sectioned horizontally at the nose, and then glued to his face.

"I would be Enire Vapore, your kidnapper supreme." Enire began. His voice echoed within his mask, giving it a distorted sound. "I think you've already become acquainted with my zanpakuto, Veneno. You know, I think he likes you. Maybe we can all-"

"Enire, that's enough." Szayel chastised. Enire mocked a disapproving face before drawing back. Szayel glanced towards Uryu, giving him a smug look. He was the only thing protecting Uryu from the lunatic that was restraining him. Uryu hated it. It made him feel pathetic and desperate.

He tried to think of a way to escape. With his hands bound his chances were slimmer than before, if that was possible. _Think harder. Picture the result in your mind._ With no better alternative, he closed his eyes and tried to visualize an exit. Instead, he saw his father.

"_If I was an arrancar, you'd be dead."_

Szayel tucked a finger under Uryu's chin and pulled his head towards him.

"My, my, you are an interesting one. Most of my subjects give up by this point but you still seem to planning something." He pulled away and watched Uryu's head drop. Satisfied, he began to walk in the opposite direction. "Enire, make this quick. We don't need anything dramatic."

Enire placed the blade against Uryu's neck. Uryu leaned away from the sword and found himself pushing at the arrancar's chest. For a moment he stopped struggling and closed his eyes. There was a reiastu hurtling in their direction. Uryu assumed it to be only one person and braced himself.

"Hold on." Szayel stopped walking, using sonido ensure his command was fulfilled. He grabbed Enire by the arm. "You idiot, didn't you feel that? Someone's-"

A slight gust blew past them.

When Uryu opened his eyes he realized it was because Szayel was now holding a disembodied arm. It took a moment for Enire to make the connection that it was his own.

Szayel dropped the arm and wiped his hands against each other. "Kurosaki Ichigo. How quaint of you to join us." Ichigo stood a few feet ahead of Uryu in full Bankai garb. His hand dug into his zanpakuto, ready for a counter.

Uryu jumped away from the recovering arrancar and slid aside Ichigo.

"You should have arrived earlier." Uryu shot. Unfazed, he shrugged.

"It took me a while to get here."

"The Visoreds?"

"They wanted to make sure I wasn't chickening out." He grinned. "As if."

Uryu suspected as much.

"Can you fight?" Ichigo asked. Uryu was glad that Ichigo didn't state the obvious and ask how he ended up in his condition. He didn't want a reason to mention his father.

"Well enough." Uryu reached into his pant leg and drew a Seele Schneider. Ichigo watched him, surprised.

"Where'd you get _that_?"

"Does it matter?" Uryu spat. Something else he didn't feel like explaining. He had 'borrowed' it from his father while he wasn't paying attention, tucking them in his pants as to not attract any attention.

"Guess not."

Szayel scoffed at the sight of both of them. "This has taken longer than necessary. I'm not going to waste my time fighting these buffoons. Enire, finish this quickly. Signal me when you've captured him."

A tunnel grew in front of Szayel heading right into Hueco Mundo. _Garganta, _Uryu thought. Szayel stepped towards the hole.

"And when you do, leave the body looking recognizable." Szayel added. Enire seemed to nod, though he replied:

"No promises! You know me, sometimes my hand starts slipping over and over again."

Szayel entered the tunnel despite this. Uryu tried to pass off the comment as a scare tactic; however the arrancar made it difficult. Enire's eyes stared at him with a tinge of madness and tossed his sword from hand to hand.

Uryu glanced at the ground. The arm was gone. He either regenerated or reformed his body, although the method wasn't important. He was fully able now and required their full attention.

"Don't underestimate him." Uryu warned. "I'm not sure how his powers work, but they're poison based. His zanpakuto likely emits a toxin on contact."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow.

"Don't let him cut you." Ichigo gave a slow nod. He understood that one.

It took until he saw Enire's mask did he realize what his zanpakuto's was capable of doing. If Szayel had wanted to kill him, he could have done it himself. Instead, Szayel had Enire grapple him, which meant Enire had to have some ability that was either a tranquilizer or a poison. The mask gave it away.

Ichigo was the first to attack. Enire welcomed it with open arms, spreading his body apart like a canvas. His right arm fell to the ground. Uryu watched Ichigo glance back, finding a sword hovering in front of him. Attached to the end was the arrancar's arm. Surprised, Ichigo attacked it on instinct. The sword blocked every blow, building for a counter and finally stabbed into Ichigo's abdomen.

There was light and a grinding noise, and the arm was gone. The sword clattered on the ground. Uryu stood at the other end of the attack, his arms still in the Quincy stance.

"I forgot to mention that he can reform at will. He's made of smoke."

Ichigo let himself breathe and stepped on the sword.

"Yeah, thanks I noticed!" Ichigo yelled. Uryu ignored it. Ichigo was supposed to be the representative shinigami for the region. He should have been prepared for anything.

Uryu walked over to where Ichigo was standing and picked up the Seele Schnieder. The fight was over faster than he expected. Looking at Enire, Uryu realized the arrancar was smiling. Uryu yawned. The arrancar's insanity was getting old.

"Are you going to capture him?" Uryu asked. "I can hold on to the zanpakuto." It was a fair question. Ichigo was, if unofficially, a member of the Gotei 13. They could request that the arrancar be kept for \ analysis. When Ichigo didn't respond, he tried to relax keeping his eyes on Enire. The arrancar was still grinning, his eyes just as locked on Uryu as Uryu was with him.

Uryu blinked. It reminded him of something. _I broke my promise with father._ He had been saved by a shinigami. He blew the thought aside. It wasn't his fault that a shinigami needed to save him. Unless wanting to go home was looking for trouble, he hadn't meddled in their affairs. Not that Ryuken would see it that way. In his mind, he could hear his father's apathy.

"_You're pathetic. If you were strong you wouldn't need the help."_

He shook his head, feeling it drop. He could deal with his father tomorrow. There was a current matter that still required his attention.

When he looked back, Enire was gone. Uryu wanted to smack himself, though he smacked Ichigo instead.

"Weren't you paying attention!" Uyru yelled. Ichigo appeared surprised but silent. Expecting an instantaneous outburst, Uryu almost wanted to check a watch. _Wait._ Uryu pushed Ichigo's body as hard as he could and watched as it fell to the ground.

_The idiot!_ The sword had cut through Ichigo's sandal and marred his foot; instant poison. Unable to react, the sword leapt up and slashed across Uryu's hand. By impulse he grabbed it with his other, smearing his blood over his flesh. He could hear laughing in the distance. Uryu cursed. He should have expected it. It was a more than obvious trap, one hundred percent predictable.

He didn't bother to think of how he could have missed it. There was little point to it, aside from an adequate amount of self-loathing which Uryu could already provide.

He could feel his limbs becoming stiff and his heart rate slowing. His mind stopped thinking and through it, he had gained a strange feeling of peace. For the first time in hours, he didn't need to think.

Enire grabbed his shoulders.

"Don't fight it. As I am now, the poison is almost instantaneous. You might even start to enjoy it. You're lucky that I don't-" Enire whispered into his ear. Uryu pushed against him, heaving his head as high as he could.

"Shut up."

Before his vision left, he saw exactly what he had hoped for, Enire's appalled face. Then having done what he had desired from the instant he met Enire, he waited until he could wake up again.


	5. To Sleep Past Noon

_Author's Note: OKAY SO I LIED. I hoped I'd have Chapter 5 finished in a week after the fourth one, however the quality was abysmal. So I've been ignoring/editing it for a month until now. Which is horrible, because now that school is coming up, I'm limiting myself to one chapter a month anyway. In any case, this chapter occurs about an hour after Chapter 4, with each section occuring at six hour intervals. Also, I'm working on a visual timeline so that I can get the prehistory straight._

_Once more TL;DR: Chapter 5, enjoy._

**Chapter 5: To Sleep Past Noon**

It was still night when Szayel returned. The wind was present as before, though not as harsh as it once was. Not that it mattered. The wind was of little concern to a creature like Szayel Aporro Grantz.

Enire greeted him with the closest thing he could amount to a grin. Szayel replied with a stare that told him to stop. It wasn't that he didn't like it when his fraccion were happy, especially when they had done their job, however Enire had this awkward composure of being hideous when he tried to smile.

"Where are the bodies?" Szayel asked, his arms crossed and his face in a frown. Enire pulled at his zanpakutou and then braced for their weight of his shoulders. A body materialized on each shoulder, their heads dangling in front of the arrancar.

Szayel glanced between the two bodies in Enire's arms. One was Uryu Ishida, a living example of how easily the title of genius was bestowed on children. The boy was overconfident and weak, always a good combination to go up against. Though, Szayel had to admit that he was both pleased and surprised by the boy's persistence. It meant there was a good chance he would survive what came next.

And if he didn't?

Szayel always had a back-up plan.

He picked up Uryu's chin with the bare tips of his fingers, and tried to guess what was the last thing the boy thought. Szayel hoped it was something peaceful; a memory of a picnic or a family gathering, or perhaps a day with a girl. That way, it would be more ironic when he woke up and saw the world he was actually in. No picnics or family where he was going, not with what Lord Aizen had planned for him. Although, there was that girl that Aizen picked up the night before. Remembering that he had planned experiments for both children, he ran through his schedule to make sure there were no conflicts. There were none. He chuckled, wondering how he could ever doubt himself.

Szayel dropped the boy's head and gave the rest of his body a sharp eye. From his pocket he pulled out a flashlight, which he gave to Enire to hold between his teeth. Glad he had acquired a new set of gloves, he tore through the boy's clothing. Uryu was unusually pale. Szayel presumed it was more natural than anything harmful. He doubted the Quincy child was ever very flushed and Enire's poison did have an odd pigmentation effect. Outside of that, there was nothing that needed to be immediately treated. A couple cuts and bruises could be worked out when he got back to the lab. In spite of the necessity, Szayel was reluctant to give the boys any cleaning. It seemed a shame to put so much energy into something that was going to be damaged again.

Szayel wiped his hands on the other glove, and stuffed them into his pocket. Enire looked at him eagerly for an order. Szayel shook his head. Sometimes he wondered why his fraccion couldn't think for themselves; he often reminded himself that there was a reason that he tried to create his members or hire ones with very little creativity.

In hindsight, if he had bothered to set that as a rule, Enire would have been the exception. He was a near free-thinking lunatic whom Szayel was remarkably sure would kill everyone he encountered if not kept on a tight leash. However, regardless of his mannerisms, Enire was a valued member of his fraccion. With all the capture tasks he had been handed recently, he needed a quick way to get his targets unconscious without too much hassle. Enire was both those things, if slightly jostled. Enemies would fight him without concern and never realize that they had underestimated their foe until they were asleep. Szayel had considered wiping his mind at one point, but discarded the idea after watching him in practice. It was more amusing to see him fight the way he was.

"Hey, when you're messing around with the Quincy kid, you don't mind it I play with the Shinigami?" Enire let his voice echo within his mask. Szayel gave him another hard look.

"No. I need the shinigami boy." Szayel raised Ichigo's head with his elbow and rested it on his sleeve. The boy was less damaged than the Quincy. Funny, he had expected the opposite. According to his research, he was undergoing heavy training.

"I thought the order was only for the Quincy?" Enire said, sounding dejected.

"Then you thought wrong. The only order Lord Aizen gave us was to collect soldiers for an upcoming war. Although I must concede that he was especially insistent on capturing Mr. Ishida." Szayel dropped Ichigo's head and attempted to rub the stains off with his pant leg. When Enire made a pleading look, he added "Anyone else is fair game for me. Besides, did you think I didn't anticipate this boy's arrival? These Ryoka stick together like grain on wheat."

Enire gave up and hunched over to allow the bodies to settle into a more comfortable spot on his back.

Szayel unsheathed his sword and drew it across the sky, creating a scar in the air.

At this, the physical world ripped apart and gave way to Hueco Mundo, right into Szayel's workshop. He stepped back, giving Enire notice that he wanted him to enter first. After he jumped through, Szayel followed after him, landing back in his lab.

His subjects were already lying on the sanitation table. Szayel gave a near appreciative nod and told Enire to leave, making note that there was still one more body he needed to analyze. Enire muttered something unintelligible, but made his way out nonetheless. The door crashed behind him, shaking all of Szayel's hanging utensils.

Szayel didn't notice. He was too busy studying his new rats.

* * *

Ryuken lay in his chair, head back while his tie rested on the floor. Normally, he would have picked up the tie and placed it somewhere that would make sense, but didn't feel like it. Between his lips was a welcomed cigarette. The smoke trailed in the air and Ryuken found himself blowing into it, making shapes with his breath. It was treat he needed after five hours of work and no extra pay.

A cigarette huffing doctor was a strange paradox for most people he encountered. However he had accepted his own hypocrisy in that being a medical director was never a healthy job regardless of whether you smoked or not. And now that he was addicted (though he never used those words exactly) the occasional cough never really bothered him, nor did the irony of working at the hospital.

The paperwork lay on the table, signed, corrected, marked and organized as if he were some high school teacher who taught more classes than he could cope. He could scarcely believe it was done. Yet, there it was, right on his desk. The torrid fruit of nine hours of labour: a migraine, a coffee mug, and a team of complacent employees.

He expected it to feel better when he was finished. It _was _a victory of sorts. He had overcome the burly mountain of work that had accumulated due to a lacking work ethic in his staff.

He groaned.

Dressing it up didn't help. It felt like he had wasted an evening, like there was something else that could have been done that night and he missed it. That was curious in and of itself. Ryuken had no idea what he would be doing if he wasn't here. Sleeping, perhaps, if that book he was reading didn't keep him up. Although, for the most part it seemed like his brain was bored. At some point during the night, life had ceased being a challenge.

Ryuken sighed. Like most things, he expected it would pass.

The phone rang. Ryuken stared at it, hoping someone else would answer its buzzing. Two rings later, he realized what time it was. His secretary wouldn't be in for another few hours. He hovered his right hand over the phone. It was nearly six o'clock in the morning. Who in their right mind would call _him_ at this hour? He could let it ring. If he waited a second, it would go away and he wouldn't have to think about it until he was officially working again. When its irritating sound became too much to bear, his finger went for the speaker phone which responded with a high pitch tone that signaled the caller had hanged up.

_Good riddance. _The phone must have heard his thoughts, because it began again a moment later. Not willing to hear another tirade of its beeping, he pulled the receiver to his ear and put out his cigarette. Away from the microphone, he coughed out the smoke that remained in his lungs.

"Ryuken, is that you?" _Isshin._ His voice was tired but pacing. There was a sense of immediate urgency in the way he talked.

"Isshin, what are you doing calling me?" Ryuken fell back into his chair and lighted another cigarette from his case. What is wrong with him? Taking in another breath, he watched the smoke waft into the air.

_"_The kids are missing!" Isshin panted.

"What?" He had genuinely heard nothing, the smoke taking up more attention now that he was fatigued.

"Our sons are gone!" Ryuken anticipated the shout and moved the speaker away from his ear, though what he actually was a separate matter.

So, his son was gone. Uryu was missing. _Missing._ He stared at the receiver with a nebulous curiosity. He pulled for the spirit strands. All of them came back without any evidence of a Quincy, aside from his own. Unconsciously, he uttered 'missing' aloud.

"Ryuken?" Isshin was yelling still.

"I'd advise you to calm down." Ryuken said, trying to avoid an assault on his ears. It wasn't like Isshin to go into a screaming fit over his children. He bragged and complained, but usually left himself out of Ichigo's affairs. It was a little late to start now. "By the way you're trying to bludgeon my hearing, I assume it was not voluntary?"

"The arrancar have them; they knocked out our sons within a couple minutes. I can't believe you didn't notice it, the battle was a couple blocks from the hospital." Isshin's voice leveled, and he began speaking in a more moderate tone.

_Uryu already broke his promise. _Ryuken was hardly amazed that Uryu had broken his pact. Disappointed was as far as he would admit. He wanted it to last a little longer so that he could finish his training. In the end, it didn't make a difference to his own life. If Uryu wanted to end the training early, that would be his grief. His son probably pushed it aside with a remotely functioning excuse. That was probably the same logic that permitted him to steal those Seele Schneiders.

In the background, there was the sound of a car driving away, its exhaust booming behind it. "Orihime, the girl, she's gone too as of last night. But I think that's part of some other deal."

"Did you witness this?"

"More or less," Isshin said coolly, which meant he was hiding something. One couldn't partially witness an event like this and give such great detail over what happened.

"Isshin, when did your powers return?"

"A couple weeks ago, after Ichigo and the others got back," Isshin sighed, though there was no surprise in his voice. Ryuken had been suspicious since Isshin had visited. When he was nearby it felt like there was a new stench that overwhelmed anything else appeared. After living so long with it he found that spiritual energy could act like a musk, attaching itself to whoever had more of it. Of course, there was the chance that Isshin had intended to tell him and forgot.

"And even with them you didn't interfere?" Ryuken's voice was monotone, with no hint of any accusation.

"You know as well as I do that I couldn't jump in the middle of that fight without causing a bigger scene than there needed to be." Isshin burst. It was an interesting duplicity that he now lived in. A man so concerned with something that he could have changed, yet didn't. Despite this, if Isshin was going to live vicariously there was no sense in coming to him about it.

"How is Soul Society reacting to this?"

"They immediately jumped ship once Orihime and the others went missing." Isshin explained. "They consider it a preemptive attack. The Captains are probably getting ready for as we speak, leaving us on our own for awhile."

He assumed as much. Why waste your time on soldiers when you could be rallying the more powerful troops? They were only children after all. Still, it left Ryuken curious for one more question.

"What do you intend to do about this?"

"I'm going to talk to Urahara. That bastard, this was that damn cryptic warning he gave out." Isshin growled. Ryuken hit the speaker phone button and set aside the receiver. He was tired of Isshin attempting to break his ear drums. "What about you? What are you going to do about this?"

Ryuken paused before he spoke. He had answered this question long before Isshin asked. _If Uryu was in trouble what would you do?_

"Nothing," Ryuken said finally. On nights like these, he had looked at the ceiling and asked himself the question he hoped to avoid, and every time he said he would do nothing. There was one occasion where he had broken it, one where his son was helpless with no means to defend himself. It would be the last time.

"Come on! I know that you don't like to get involved in these things but he's your kid. And he might not make it alive out of this." Isshin roared. Ryuken glared at his phone. It was too early for this kind of noise. After working for so long, he couldn't take much more of this yelling.

"Look, I said I'm going to see Urahara. Are you sure that there's nothing you want me to do?" Isshin's voice was almost pleading.

"I'm sure. " Ryuken released another puff of smoke into the air. It floated away from him, forming what looked to be a hippo. Ryuken put his hand over his eyes. Maybe it would be a good idea if he took a day off for once.

"Let me try again. Aizen has your son. Doesn't that mean anything?" Isshin boomed into the room. His voice fragmented as it travelled through the speaker. _Stop with this damn noise. _Ryuken said nothing, deciding quickly that he had had enough for the night.

"I'm hanging up now. Call me if you feel like talking at a reasonable level. Goodbye." Ryuken hit the dial before Isshin could say anything else. It would have gotten pointless after that anyway.

_What am I going to do about this? _Ryuken could scarcely believe that Isshin had bothered to ask that question. He was going to work for another ten hours, return home early, and have a short dinner before he went to bed. The house would be quieter, or at any rate less tense, something which would do wonders for Ryuken's gathering migraines. He might finish reading that book if he got a chance. What was it? He had left in on his bed stand for days and never gotten to the end. It was…Nightmares and… No, that wasn't quite right. It was a diary of some kind. Someone at work had recommended it to him.

_What else would I do?_ Already reminiscing about ten minutes prior, Ryuken wanted to say it had indeed been a horrible night. In reality there was little else he could do, aside from running in gun-ho. And he was far from doing anything like that. He had a living to make.

The hospital echoed as he put his feet on his desk, knocking over part of his work. He debated between getting up and allowing it to sit on the floor. In the end he decided he would pick it up later. He could let it sit there, mull it over a little bit, wonder why his hospital wasn't more efficient to have all this done electronically. He had intended to work on the last one for a while, the hospital needed a bit of an upgrade. Some of the ones in Tokyo had all the new gadgets, and all the doctors proclaimed them like the new master of the workplace. He wasn't so impressed. Paper could do what most of those machines could.

_See, it went away. _

His eyelids felt drugged, moving erratically. He could close his eyes for a few moments. No one would ask why the boss was had his eyes shut; there was hardly anyone here and those that remained weren't expecting him to endure the night shift with them.

Any confusion could be solved with a note on his secretary's des, to inform her that if he wasn't awake by ten thirty she was to knock three times and then come in to make sure he was up. This way he could maintain his reputation as the meticulous director without added chuckles between employees about how their boss slept on the job just as much as they did.

He never ended up writing the note. Office politics always put him to sleep.

He imagined going home. He wasn't asleep yet, he could hear a faint ticking of a clock outside of his being. He laid in his bed instead of a chair, a thin blanket stretched over him, and his arms pulled out across, what he hoped was, his mattress.

It was gentle laying there.

Through the thin door he could hear the winding of keys through a lock. The front door opened, far away from where he slept. The girl (somehow he discerned it was a female from only the sound) placed their shoes into the closet with a swish of the sliding flap. Her feet carried her to Ryuken's room. He could feel her eyes piercing the door, searching for a way in. As he had intended there were none, so she banged at it with her fist. When he heard the bangs, the whimpers to come inside, and later the tears, it was then that he knew he was asleep. Only in his dreams would he ever want to remember this event again.

_She never needed me to bring her home. Uryu will be the same. _

_

* * *

_

Ichigo was dreaming. Or at any rate he thought he was dreaming. It could be a trance or higher state of mind; like that mattered. He was alone on a sideways skyscraper wearing his school uniform, so at the very least, he wasn't anywhere real. It was the world of his sword, Zangetsu. Not that he'd seen the old man himself in a while. The last time he was here, his _other_ took Zangetsu's place. That wouldn't be an issue this time round. His personal hollow had already conceded defeat, leaving Ichigo in charge of his own body for a change.

His inner world was oddly uneventful. Most of the time he would meet up with someone within a few seconds of arriving. As of yet, he had been there for what he figured was about half an hour without anyone contacting him. What was stranger was that neither the old man nor his other seemed to be nearby.

Ichigo started walking. There was some part of himself that wondered how the physics of this would turn out. He was on the side of a building and in real life that meant you were falling. Ichigo silenced his qualms. It wasn't real and even if he fell he couldn't be killed in a world inside himself. Ichigo paused and looked out to what should have been the ground. The fact that there was none didn't help with his disposition.

The skyscraper went on and left whatever was in front in a mist. Sometimes he could hear the street below him (in front of him didn't seem to be right description) and questioned why the world had to tease him. Seconds after it started, the sounds would stop and be replaced by the menacing silence. This continued for close to a mile.

"Damn it, Zangetsu! Hollow! I could be living right now! What the hell am I doing here?" Ichigo screamed, hoping that the old man would hear and not his other. His voice echoed around him, bouncing on invisible walls and with it, the world appeared to shake. The last thing he remembered was fighting that arrancar and then feeling something in his foot. Ishida was alongside him, fighting with some weapon he had never seen before.

_Did I lose? _If he was inside Zangetsu during a fight, then he was in a state of desperation. So Ishida was fighting out there alone and last he saw him, he was in a rough state. Ichigo wasn't sure how long the fight had gone before that, however Ishida looked remarkably bruised. Not that he'd like to hear it, but by himself Ishida didn't have much chance of winning.

One thing Ichigo could confirm was that _he_ wasn't dead, as if that was any help. Feeling dead was feeling drained, sucked of energy. Most of all, it felt _heavy_, like you had to be Atlas to That wasn't even close to how Ichigo felt. If anything, he felt lighter than normal, though this may have been due to standing on the side of an infinite-story building. No matter what, being alone in this realm sucked, as long as he stayed here, being alive wasn't going to help Ishida any.

"Ichigo." A voice resonated through Ichigo's skin, causing him to tremble and grab for his arms. Parts of the sky turned black and ripped apart in square chunks, like a virus had deleted the parts of the universe and was consuming it piece by piece. The building tipped into a diagonal plane. It broke apart as the tremor cracked through its impossible foundation. Ichigo didn't run, but fell over, his balance lost in the madness. "Can you hear me, Ichigo?"

"I can hear you!" Then a thought came to Ichigo that should have come earlier, though he was too busy trying to stop his bones from vibrating. "Is that you, old man?"

"Yes." The voice stung again albeit quieter. Ichigo braced himself for the shudders. When he felt nothing, he pushed himself up and rolled out his arms.

"Zangetsu, what's going on?" Ichigo boomed. Around him, he could see tiny pieces of the world start to mend itself. Pockets of sky digitized into view, clearing up the darkness. Still, the skyscraper remained bent minus the pressure of an incline.

Wild pixels seemed to gather out in front of him. Ichigo squinted as they drew closer, his eyes trying to follow their intricate movements, getting lost and cross-eyed faster than he thought. As the pattern continued the pixels grew larger, spreading out until they made something recognizable.

First it was just shades within black, expanding to form a cloak. Ichigo had to take a step back to avoid its growth, at which point there was man standing where the individual pixels were. His grizzled face glared at Ichigo with intent.

"Ichigo, the order is changing." Zangestu resonated, his voice deep and paced. He continued to stare, though Ichigo wasn't sure whether it was at him or something beyond. He turned around and saw nothing but broken landscape. "It is becoming difficult to maintain my form here. I had to rebuild myself using only what was part of your memories. As such, I am not really-"

His mouth half open, the man vanished. Ichigo jumped and looked around to see whether he might reform.

"-imagine that I am a recording. " Three feet away, Zangetsu sustained himself, but only barely. His form still flickered out of view, reappearing somewhere slightly different. Ichigo's chest pounded as he realized that he was watching a flicking light bulb, in the last moments before its death. "The most – give you is what you – know. You must have realized by now that you are no– the king. That title – taken by your other. From now on, the hollow is ruler of this domain. And you are his horse."

Ichigo's eyes widened, his hands curling into a fist.

"This can't be right." Ichigo said, more to himself than the old man. He fought for his right to be the King. For his power to be taken away so easily was beyond his reasoning. "Zangetsu, I won! I proved to him that I am the stronger one. What the hell happened?"

Again, the old man disappeared. Ichigo closed his eyes. Every time the old man returned, the world shook. He focused on it. His hearing and touch become his primary senses. Within a few seconds he was able to predict where the old man would appear next.

The vibrations centered into one place.

Ichigo opened his eyes to Zangetsu standing before him. Ichigo backed away, the old man a little too close and not about to offer any comfort.

"Yes, you defeated him. Do you remember the revenge he set once you acclaimed that victory?"

Suddenly, Zangetsu paused as if he had forgotten what he was talking about. Ichigo stepped around him, giving the old man an odd look. When he didn't respond, Ichigo snapped his fingers next to Zangetsu's face. It immediately shot towards him, tilting his head in a way that didn't seem natural. Ichigo flinched, almost losing his balance. Finally, the old man spoke, though the voice was not his own.

"_Never forget, the king and his horse can change places at any time. If I see the slightest opening I'll buck you off and crush your skull!" _ Zangetsu cackled. The sky began to tear again as the words left Zangetsu's mouth. Ichigo watched him with a morbid curiosity. Regaining some sense, the old man coughed.

"Ahem."

"It seems your other has decided to send you a message." Zangetsu clarified, appearing more stable than before. "Your world is breaking Ichigo, leaving little we can do to stop it."

"I can see that. Damn, just tell me you didn't bring me here to explain that I lost." Ichigo said, exasperated. He had ultimately realized the lack of control he had in the situation. It wasn't a new experience, he had more than survived a series of fish-out-of water experiences. However, it was more irritating when the 'situation' was his body.

Zangetsu raised an eyebrow. "I have done nothing. You brought yourself here. "

"What!" Ichigo blurted. There was something about never having any idea what was happening that led him to ask questions that didn't make any sense. It was getting annoying. Damn it, everything was getting goddamn annoying. Deciding to better articulate himself, Ichigo tried again. "What do you mean I brought myself here?"

"You called to this place and –" Zangetsu broke off; his form appeared to dissipate then rebuild itself in the same spot. Having no other choice but to wait, Ichigo crossed his arms and watched the rotating pixels.

Ichigo felt his hands getting cold, unconsciously pulling them into his sleeves. Soon enough, he could see frost on his breath. His eyes lifted from the pixels and surveyed the landscape. He gasped, without surprise. The emotion was anger, refusing to accept what Ichigo saw.

The world was turning white.

Ichigo searched all corners. Everything that was black became white, surging over it like a flood. If it was white before, the material gleamed, relishing that it was now part of the dominating theme. The sky had peeled off, whatever process was keeping it alive killed by the cold monotone. And with the sky gone, the wall behind it switched sides.

Observing the colour's onslaught, Ichigo tried to decide between running towards it or away from it. As the tide approached, he found that he preferred his current colour scheme and ran down the office building's side. The white corruption followed. Where Ichigo ran, the world shifted and collapsed into something he wanted to be unfamiliar.

Ichigo convinced himself that there was a way to escape. It was his own space, dream or whatever the hell this world was, he had to be able to leave it.

He kept running, the universe crashing down above him. His legs carried him for what seemed like miles. He could feel his own heart panting as he moved, a beat a second after every breath. As long as he faced forward, he felt the mist was welcoming him, offering him a place to hide until he could fight back.

He never reached it. Looking to his side, he saw the same gathering pixels he had stood by earlier. Except now they wouldn't be forming the old man.

"Do not waste time. Listen to me Ichigo, there is one thing you need to hear." Zangetsu yelled, his voice bringing some darkness to the now stark world. It compelled Ichigo to stop running and he obliged. The white formed a circle about him. Ichigo felt the space in between fill with black fleeing from all his pores to combat the threat.

"Do you remember -" The rest cut out. Ichigo fell to his knees, only to hear a disjointed end. "Memento Mori."

The words translated automatically, some pleading function of his inner world aiding him. It said:

_Remember, you will die. _

Ichigo pounded the ground in front of him.

_That was why I stopped running? To hear I was going to die!_ The dark surrounding him shot out against the white in a last ditch effort, spikes plunging into enemy territory. The white merely overlapped them, using them as a path to Ichigo's body. By now, he could feel it coming. In spite of his stand, the ground beneath him now breathed white.

"Fun trick, eh? I get the old man to spout some shit and then have you waste all your energy runnin' away! And you know what? You're the other now bitch 'cause I'm the freaking king!" His hollow laughed. Ichigo didn't look up. His other was right, he had no energy left. When the hollow spoke again, he sounded disappointed. "I said you're empty, I didn't mean you couldn't still put up a fight. Ishida's waiting there in the cold for you. I bet your proud ass wants to save him."

Ichigo wanted to retaliate but his legs wouldn't lift him off the ground.

"Say somethin'! Don't you want to see your old bitch Orihime, again? Aizen has her and I bet he's doing a great job of taking care of her. Probably treats her like his own little lap dog. Hell, I know what I would do with her…"

At mention of Orihime, Ichigo leapt off the floor, a punch cocked, his face twisted his anxiety. There was no way he would let the bastard get away with a line like that. If Ichigo was going to do something before he went for good, it was teach him a lesson. The hollow smiled and pushed his sword through Ichigo's throat.

"That's better."


	6. Sheppard Samba

Author's Note:_ YES. YES I DID IT. 11:35 PM EST SEPTEMBER 30. I have officially managed to keep a single deadline. Or kind of. This is 70% of chapter 6, but it's the meat of it. All that's left is the cliffhanger and a new character viewpoint, so only a 1,000 words more. I'll update it when it's finished, however I want to put this out there regardless if anyone is reading it. It will also be accompanied by a corrected version of Chapter 5 which had more than a few grammar errors that I like to pretend never happened. I'm sorry about the lateness of this update, it was naive of me to think that my teachers were going to be easy on me in first semester, but lesson learned. I'll start writing the chapter at the beginning of the month rather than near the end. I'm so lazy..._

_Mega Author Note: Right, so this is the final version of this chapter with an addition 1000 words and a little more insight into what's actually happening. Swing down the page to Chapter 6 Again if you've already read it. Don't worry, Chapter 7 is already underway and will be more focused on developing the plot. Chapter 5 has also been updated for sakes of coherence and grammar. Quickly, I'd like to thank Mizz-Madam, Sokulski, Kimsa, and Volcanic for taking the time to review the vast majority of these chapters. You guys are great and the reason I attempt to have any kind of schedule. _

**Tl;DR**: Here's Chapter 6. Enjoy.

**Chapter 6: Mary Cried Wolf but Only Found the Sheppard**

Isshin had left home faster than he would've liked. He had hardly tucked his daughters (on the couch with the food untouched; a heart-wrenching sight) into their sheets, _sorry girls, _before he had ran out of the house, jumped into his car and driven ten kilometers into nowhere. He rushed into a street that ended without warning, and lead to a shop that at this time of night should not have had its lights on.

It was an old style building made with corny nostalgia and a deflated taste. Sliding paper doors, a delicate wooden frame and architecture built to harbour the collapsing Shoguns. It was a ghost in its own right, a remnant of the past that should have given in a long time ago. Only a man of age and ego would bother to own such a place. Urahara had both, in his own way. And without him, Isshin would never have given this place a second look.

"Urahara, get your ass out here! I'm not happy with your bullshit service! I need a refund!" Isshin yelled towards Urahara's estate, slamming closed the car door. The alley was empty with no sign that anyone ever lived there, if the lights weren't glowing through the windows. Those were a dead giveaway. He vaguely recalled that the damned shop could only be found by those who wanted to find it, in Urahara's words.

There was no response. Isshin expected that, it was typical for Urahara to stay quiet when he didn't want to give any answers or on the odd occasion that he didn't have any. Nonetheless, a situation like that made Isshin more uneasy than angry.

"Urahara if my kid dies because of this, I _will_ kill you!" Isshin replied, remembering to add: "And this time you won't have the luck of going to the afterlife!"

With that, the front door shifted aside. Urahara poked his head outside entrance, his eyes shut and wearing a hastily put on set of pajamas. He motioned for Isshin to come inside, one hand scratching his head. Isshin followed him in. Urahara always tried to put on a show when inviting his guests. Still, he was never doing what his attitude alluded to, even during the day. On a regular meeting Isshin might have chuckled at the sight, wondering what Urahara had been doing behind his austere secrecy. But right now he wanted to bash Urahara's head in.

_Grey walls. They're the first thing that I see. I'm hanging from a hook. Can't believe I let myself think that. These chains are wrapped around my arms and I'm left to slowly swing here, in place. Slowly. Slowly. With enough effort I might fly off. _

_It's not necessary; the hook digs into my back and holds me in place. You can't imagine how much that hurts. I know I can't but it has to. Hurt.  
Sleep._

"So Isshin, what brings you here at this time of the night?" Urahara yawned and rubbed the grains from his eyes. Seeing that, Isshin wondered if Urahara was trying to piss him off. He snarled, crashing his fists down on the table between them. At five thirty in the morning, this was the best reaction his brain could come up with, the other options being the middle finger and leaving.

"Damn, don't act like I have to ask what's going on!" Isshin yelled, the room shaking in tandem. Urahara made a coy laugh and pressed his hand on the tabletop, slowing the vibrations to a stop. Isshin made a face then crossed his arms. "This ain't the time to be pretending like you don't know what's happening."

"Oh my, aren't you the angry one tonight," Urahara said, dripping with sarcasm. Discreetly, his hand reached for his cane. "You know, this discussion would be a lot easier if you gave me a hint to what you were talking about."

"You don't know? Here's your hint, yesterday you sent me off to tell Ryuken to watch his kid. Three hours later Ichigo and Uryu are kidnapped by some arrancar. Sound familiar?"

"What, are you sure? Was this...If you'll excuse me I have to check something." Urahara jumped, more awake than he was during the daytime. He looked at Isshin with what seemed to be genuine surprise. Isshin attempted to give a response, but the words came out in fragments. Wrong answer. Mumbling something to himself, Urahara stood up and paced towards the back of the store. Faced with limited options, Isshin got up and ran behind him.

"Damn it, where are we going Urahara?" Isshin demanded, trying to get ahead of the man in hat and clogs. He changed direction anyway, opening a large door in Isshin's face and knocked him off balance with his cane, bypassing Isshin with ease.

"We're going nowhere, as I'm afraid I have to leave you here," Urahara's voiced rung as the door shut behind him. Isshin grabbed the handle and pulled. The door stayed still, locked tight. At least there was nothing spiritual about it; Urahara didn't have the time to pull a binding spell. So taking several steps back, Isshin rammed into the door, throwing it off its hinges and sending it toppling down the flight of stairs beneath him.

Isshin made a cautious first step. He couldn't see more than four steps down, the dark clouding his eyes. There was the added paranoia brought on by a choking feeling in his gut, a clear sign that wherever the stairs led to it was brimming of spiritual energy. If anyone weaker were creeping down these stairs, they would have been on the floor crying for their mother right about now. With that, Isshin tread carefully to the bottom. It was fine for the most part. He kept himself distracted with thoughts of how he was going to grapple Urahara once he made his way down.

It was darker than before, something Isshin didn't think about until he arrived at the end. The basement felt crushingly cold, the floor was concrete and sucked in any body heat. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver lighter, although he could only see its outline. Giving it a swift churn, the lighter flamed and Isshin could see his own form. Thumb. Fingers. Favourite Shirt. Yup, they were all there.

He stuttered forward, his hand shook as he held the lighter. It didn't illuminate anything until he ventured ahead and gained a better idea of where Urahara had gone. A minute or so in, he found the a set of boxes piled against the outermost wall. He opened the one closest to him and pulled out a pill canister with the words,_ Reiatsu Supplement_ written on the side. Another bigger one said _Dried Gigai Limbs_.

Isshin put them down. This had to be where Urahara stored the remnants of his old experiments, maybe even the ones that went wrong. He didn't want to think how many those were; the environment was pretty haunting as it was. As he motioned to go elsewhere the lights flipped on. Urahara stood beside Isshin, almost grinning as he looked towards him.

"You'll have to allow me to apologize. I needed a couple minutes to clean this place up. It gets really ugly if I want to show it to guests," Urahara said. His hand hung on a string that led to the rafters.

"Like hell I will!" Isshin countered, already cocking his fist.

"You know, it might do you some good to take a look at this." Urahara laughed. He pointed to a large piece of white card pasted upon the far wall. "I mean, before you do anything drastic."

With the light, it was now possible to actually see the basement for what it was. Unfortunately that wasn't much at all. It was less than Isshin anticipated, just a dank cellar with a lot of boxes piled against the wall. Some of the packs at the bottom were lined with a thick veil of dust, so much so that any slight movement sent a flurry of it into the air. Dark, dust and damp. Not much different from the average city-dweller's.

What surprised him was the height, which seemed to be unnatural for cellar of this size. The stairs were long, but nowhere near long enough to make up for its altitude. The boxes, many as there was, only covered about halfway to the ceiling. Above them were hundreds of calendars printed on white paper, filling the gap between the boxes and the canopy. Each one was the size of a birthday card, appearing bland and typical: a space for each day, a date in the corner, and the month and year written on top. Then some of little boxes were inscribed with the various occurrences happening within the month.

Intriguingly enough, the dates went back as far as December of 1500 and crowded every spot on the poster board. It was obvious that Urahara cleaned them often or at least liked them more than what was in the boxes as there wasn't glimpse of dust on them. Instead there were markings made with red ink that led from one date on the calendar to another, linking events and times from one era to the next. Isshin's eyes caught something on one of the calendars.

Moving closer to inspect it, he reached as high as he could to touch the date. April 9, 1701: _Isshin Kurosaki leaves Soul Society._ It was circled heavily in red marker and had line shooting off from the side. Isshin followed it to the next date on its course, October 12, 1982: _Kurosaki first meets Masaki._

Isshin turned towards Urahara and grabbed him by his shirt, pointing at the dates on the wall.

"What is this? Kisuke, have you been following me! It isn't your job to be sticking your nose into these things!" Isshin yelled, his voice blowing Urahara's hair into an odd shape. Urahara's almost-grin remained.

"Really, any louder? If you keep this up I'll need a shower." He laughed. "Besides, I think the date we're looking for is a little later." He raised his cane to another date on the wall. October 31, 1982. For whatever reason, he remembered that one. That was the day he met Ryuken Ishida. Slowly, he put Urahara down and went for a closer look.

_Someone is sleeping beside me. Not so much sleeping as dreaming. His head is attached to some wires, they don't look like they hurt like the hooks did and…_

_I'm cold. I'm lying on this table and the metal touches my skin and I feel so cold. It's the scars. Warm thoughts don't help. I've tried. _

_I think I know this someone. He seems familiar. Maybe if I reach out my hand I can-_

Rest.

"What does my meeting Ryuken have to do with anything?" Isshin asked, more tired than curious.

"Nothing. But it got you to let me go didn't it?"

Isshin growled.

"Okay, okay, calm down. There is something here that we're looking for." Urahara edged further down the wall. Surveying the calendars in front of him, he breathed then pointed to one of the more recent calendars. "There it is."

Isshin came in closer. _Orihime Inoue is kidnapped._ The date was the night before, November 18, 2005.

"You knew about…"

Urahara ignored Isshin and pulled out a marker, crossing out the event with annoyance and added an event to the following day. _Ichigo and Uryu disappear. _He drew an arrow leading from the new date to two days later: _Soul Society declares war on Hueco Mundo. Invasion starts at midnight. _As an amendment, he added a question mark to the end.

"It's terrible when things don't turn like you expect them. This is going to be a real stick in what I had planned." Urahara said. Isshin glanced between the calendar and Urahara. Then Isshin punched him. Urahara didn't try to resist, letting the punch land right on his chin.

"Stop being so damn cryptic!" Isshin shouted. Urahara had been playing too many games. He deserved a punch. Or close enough. The calendar thing was freaking Isshin out. "You've got something to tell me. If you're at all interested in our kids, you'll tell me what the hell is going on. What makes you say that the war's starting on Thursday, anyway?"

"Because it _is_ starting on Thursday, and it's going to end on January 9." Urahara moved to the January calendar. Along the way several battles were mentioned, showing their victory or defeat for either side, though half of them had question marks attached. "But, if you want to know how I know this, you're not going to get much of an answer. Besides, since Ichigo and Uryu were captured it's probably going to turn out differently now."

"I won't ask as long as you tell me what I came here for. You're starting to piss me off," Isshin snarled.

"What exactly did you come here for again?" Urahara said, though he sounded serious. There wasn't any joke intended, as far as Isshin could tell. _This is a start._

"You told Ryuken to watch out for Uryu and now you're acting like you don't know what's happening. I'm looking for something that'll explain that."

"I said that didn't I. Guess I have to own up to it now, but if you want me to explain you might not get all the answers you want."

"I already told you I'm fine with that, just give me enough that I can make a decision."

"Alright then."

Pause.

"Are you sure you want me to tell you?"

"Get on with it!" Isshin screamed, making a clear echo.

"I was only checking," Urahara laughed. He pushed his cane against November 12. "You and me and Soul Society know that Orihime 'went traitor' on the twelfth. Soul Society is staying quiet, half because they don't know if Ichigo is an official member of the Visoreds, and therefore an enemy, and half because they have no idea what Aizen's planning."

"That much I know already," Isshin said impatiently. He crossed his arms and attempted to stare down Urahara. As usual, it didn't have much effect.

"Hey, just a little more till I get to the good part." Urahara let in another chuckle. "Now since they're staying quiet, Orihime was called in sick, which means that Ichigo and the others don't know that Orihime is missing yet. I think one of her friends realized it, but she'll be quiet until tomorrow. From here it gets a little iffy but bear with me. This is what would have happened had tonight's events not occurred." He moved his cane to November 14. "Tomorrow, Ichigo, Uryu and Chad would come see me to find a way into Hueco Mundo, the day before the Winter War starts."

"That sounds like Ichigo, but I still don't understand how you can be so sure of it."

"What did I say about not getting all your answers?" Urahara scolded. Isshin wished Urahara would stop smiling long enough to give him some actual information.

"I remember, I remember. Finish your damn tale, but give me the abridged version," Isshin said. He was starting to get sleepy, and begin shifting his weight from one leg to the other to keep himself awake.

"Long story short, I would tell them no. But I figured that one or two of them would try to sneak in anyway, so I got you to tell Ryuken to keep an eye out. What happened before you got here…I was not expecting that," Urahara finished. It sounded rational, aside from the 'I can predict the future' part. Given that information Isshin knew why Urahara never told him to watch for Ichigo without having to ask. If Ichigo tried to find another way into Hueco Mundo, it would be obvious. And then it would be up to Isshin to decide whether to let Ichigo leave or to stop him.

Although, now that wasn't the case. His son and Ryuken's son were gone and that scenario was about as useful as idle chitchat.

There was a long pause between them. Isshin tried to collect his thoughts into some recognizable manner as fatigue sent them flying about his head. He was getting a headache. Isshin checked his watch, almost by habit, and saw the hands sprawled out as 5:30am. His clinic would be opening up in a few hours. With that mystery solved, maybe it was time to go home.

"To get them back, we're not going to have any help from Soul Society, right?" Isshin asked with some finality in his tone.

"You got it." Urahara affirmed nigh-cheerfully. "So what are _you_ going to do?"

"Depends on when you can have the portal ready by."

"Thursday morning. The war shouldn't start for another week now that this has happened." Urahara said. He eyed Isshin, waiting for his response. "How's that sound?"

"I'll think about it," Isshin replied. Then he turned around, walked up the stairs and made it to his car, and drove home. Though before he left, Urahara managed an honest smile, the first Isshin had seen that night, and said: "Then I guess I'll be seeing you Thursday."

* * *

_Where am I? _

_Try to think of landmarks, landmarks you remember. There's the road. There's that house, and the school. _

_No. I don't recognize any of this. There's nothing here except this table and those walls. Those places…I must have imagined them. I do recognize the boy. He is (was?) my friend, I think. He's paler than I remember, but that's probably the cold. Although sometimes when the light turns off I see him move and his eyes glow in the way that human eyes shouldn't. I try to grab the boy's hand to wake him up. It's colder than mine somehow._

_I'm not dead, am I? Last I checked death wasn't four walls and meat hooks. It was worse than that. Death was living again. _

_I hear footsteps. I'm not dead, not yet. The footsteps get closer, and closer, until I can feel its hand on my eyes. _

Persistent. I don't know if I find that praiseworthy or annoying. You won't be needed for a few days, so keep your eyes shut and

_Rest. _

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 6 Again: The Sheppard's Epilogue**

After Isshin left, Kisuke called Tessai to meet with him in the cellar. Within ten minutes Tessai was fully awake and in full uniform, a white shirt and a pair of overalls. Kisuke heard Tessai's feet pound the wooden steps as he crouched his way down. When he arrived, their eyes met momentarily and they understood each other. There was a problem. Something caused things to play out irreparably wrong.

"Are you up to date with tonight's events?" Kisuke asked. Tessai gave him a blank look, holding back a yawn.

"No. I only know what was happened based on what we previously established." Tessai responded gruffly. Kisuke made a mental note never to hold a meeting before six in the morning. Still, there was work to be done. Kisuke filled him in on what Isshin had said, adding his own commentary.

"If Ichigo and Uryu were kidnapped instead of assassinated, they'd send out one of the members of the science department. So either Szayel or one of his underlings, if I've got their hierarchy right," Kisuke explained. Tessai crossed his arms and nodded. "They're ahead of schedule by a month. This is going to be trouble if we don't figure out why they are starting so early."

Tessai only grunted. He was a man of few words, though it didn't need to be said. With his hulking figure, Tessai managed to communicate most of what he wanted to say only using subtle movements. Kisuke had to appreciate a man who knew how to talk without speaking. An instantaneous transfer of information, that was useful when you didn't have any time to spare.

Kisuke looked over his calendars again. His finger circled around the number 2 in the month of December, 2005. His nails picked at the corner, peeling off a white sticker. Underneath it had written: _Uryu disappears. _Reluctantly, he picked up his marker and crossed it out. Following that, he scratched out the line going from _Uryu disappears _to three days later. Again, he peeled off a sticker from the box and revealed another incident: _Arrancar Experimentation Begins_.

_At this rate I'll need to make some new calendars_. Prior to this evening, everything else on the calendar was correct. He had double-checked more times than he wanted to count. The future was a tricky thing to anticipate, so you had to be sure if you were going to rely on it going the way you wanted. There was always some degree of change available to what could happen, but nothing to this extent. Soul Society might not declare war tomorrow, and the battle might not end exactly on May 9th. There was some leeway in what could happen, but the outcome was essentially the same. This was as if Aizen had simply decided to jump ahead a month in his schedule, and the only reason he would do that is if he was aware of what was going to happen.

Had Aizen found a way to predict these events? _Not possible._ This was something else Kisuke had double checked more times than were rationally necessary. No one else had the ability to peer into the future outside of the Urahara Shop. _So why did he do it?_

"What about the girl?" yawned Tessai. He looked at the April calendar, his eyes surveying for a day that appeared to be missing.

_The girl? _"You mean Orihime?"

Tessai nodded and let out a large yawn.

"Nah, she has the capacity but not the ability. It would have to be an extremely dire situation for her to even attempt to do…" Kisuke stopped talking, trailing on his last syllable. Quickly he shifted towards April and slid his finger over the days. When his finger hit November 26th he stopped and tore off the sticker covering it.

"There. So that's what happened," Kisuke confirmed. His voice was less tense, calm now that he understood what had happened. Tessai made a gruff noise, indicating agreement. According to the calendar, November 26th was the day Orihime _died._ "She managed to disappear out of desperation walked right into Aizen's hands."

"On Thursday you will be sending Isshin to save her?" Tessai asked, though it was less of a question and more of a statement. It was obvious that Tessai was uncomfortable with the scenario. He was most familiar with Orihime out of the spiritually aware children. Kisuke expected that Tessai would in the long run prefer her immediate safety, if it were possible.

"Yes, indirectly. Isshin won't like it, as the whole point of this expedition will be for Uryu." Tessai raised an eyebrow, but Kisuke continued anyway, "Uryu is at the center of everything that happened. Look at this line." Kisuke put his finger on April 5th and pointed to the line that came into it. The line went back for years, connecting to all significant Quincy events in the past twenty years, starting with Ryuken's entrance to medical school. Tessai's eyes followed the line and grew wide.

"Figured it out? He wants another one of _her._ If we stop him from doing that, he won't have a use for the others. " Kisuke explained.

A hard stare, Tessai looked at Kisuke with questioning eyes.

"Hey, don't worry! Worse comes to worse, I can convince him to see things our way. However, to do that I'll need your help, Tessai." They glanced at each other and experienced another moment of mutual understanding. It was instances like these that let Kisuke's days run as smoothly as they did. Tessai would create some leverage and Kisuke would deliver it to Aizen, should the situation call for it.

Tessai left immediately afterwards. The shop would be opening in a couple of hours and with guests coming later in the week he needed to get things prepared. Kisuke nodded and glanced back at his calendars.

"Uryu, it looks like I've got them all looking at you. Hold on a while, we'll be there soon enough."

* * *

_I have more energy today. Now. Whatever time has passed since the last time I was conscious. It's stupid. I can't tell how much time has passed without a clock and to me it seems like no time has passed at all. Sometimes I think I've blinked but I'll be somewhere else, or there'll be new things around me. _

_Like that girl. She's new. I can see her dangling from the metal hooks and sometimes when there's wind her hand gets just close enough that I'm sure that if I tried to reach out and touch it, I could wake her up. _

_Here it comes again. The damn spiteful wind. I can feel it glaring, pushing my skin against the metal so it gets cold enough that I shake. My shoulders always feel so…_

_Here she comes. _

_I push out my hand, but it's weak. My arm launches as far as I can will it, but it abruptly stops. I've run out of energy. Obvious. Obvious. Obvious. Damn. One more try. Breathe in. Breathe out. Look for familiar landmarks, like that pale boy with Orange Hair. I'll be strong enough for the both of us. She's falling closer. One, two, three. Now._

_My hand misses, but it slid against the side of her hand on the way back down. She's cold like me. Maybe if I can get her to this table, we can find a way to escape. Her, the boy with Orange Hair and me. Okay, again, I can do this. Feel the energy you have, and will it to do what you want. That was what Grandpa told me. She's close. Now…_

_Now!_

_I latch on her wrist, my entire body being pushed up by my right arm, while my left holds tightly on hers. What do I do now? Damn. He's coming back, I can hear those footsteps again. Plop. Plop. Plop. Plo- He's really close now. I want to see him but everything is so blurry, I can't. I just about see the faint outline of his pink hair and the white uniform shrouding his body. _

My, my, what is this? I hope you're not getting any ideas Uryu. She is nearly dead you know. Nothing I can do to cure her. She's so flawed. Sometimes I can't stand to look at her. Though, she has her benefits.

However, she's nothing like you will be. Uryu, you will be so much better. First, I have to run a couple physical and mental examinations, but I have a feeling you'll survive.

_He grabs my hand and throws me back on the table, injecting something into my skin. I can feel the injections. Every time he uses them I fall asleep soon after. I only have a few minutes now. Better just to lay here and let him rant. There's not much else I can do. _

That's interesting, I place this girl in front of you for a day and you instantly form a bond with her. I wonder it's because you're both…No. It couldn't be that. You're simply more prone to attachment than your profile indicated. I _like _that, very useful in the long run. Something to do with your father, hmmm? Men with daddy issues are always fun to play with.

_Idiot, my father has nothing to do with this. Why does he talk like that even if he knows I'm going to-_

You're probably interested in why I'm talking to you. It's mental preparation. You'll need it for once the games start. Relax for now, brat. You're going to need your strength for then, rest, rest…

Rest.


	7. My Most Serene Nightmare

_Author's Note: So, um, here I am again. It's been six months, I know. Seven months actually. Let me tell you the history of this draft. It's not an excuse, just a history. I had a draft of chapter seven 90 percent finished on December 25, 2009. So why didn't I just finish it and publish it? It was trash. It was complete and utter trash. It was so bad that I didn't know if I had a grip of where I was going with this. I took a break. It wasn't intended on being a seven month break, but that's what ended up happening. Homework piled up and I just couldn't focus on redoing this chapter while the assignments kept on coming. As a reward to any readers who have stuck by, this chapter is longer than my first three combined. Ironically enough once I got down to it, it only took three days to write all this. _

_In terms of actual plot, note that Ryuken's part takes place on Tuesday, Chad's on Wednesday, and Uryu's starts Tuesday and keeps going. All the gaps will be filled in next chapter, which I hope to have by July 5th. Oh, and yes, Chad's in this , and I might be um...resubmitting some earlier chapters again, so if your alerts go crazy, sorry, no updates till July 5th. _

**TL;DR Here's Chapter 7, no more excuses, enjoy. **

**Chapter 7: My Most Serene Nightmare **

It was unbelievable, Ryuken thought. It was completely ridiculous. He was in his living room, five kilometres from where he should have been, the hospital. His eyes were stuck. Tired, they lingered on an item he had received in person, with the advice that he open it immediately. Instead, he had thrown it nonchalantly on his coffee table, situated nicely in the middle of his living room. The package was, as far as he knew, only that, a package. It was a brown envelope and had a message scribbled on the front of it.

_Ryuken, this is for your eyes only.  
From your pal, Urahara_

Ryuken sat behind it in his recliner, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette. Despite complaints from the neighbours that were sure to come later, he was beyond caring. The sun was heading towards the horizon and it had been days since he had gotten a full night's rest. Plus, with the day he'd had so far Ryuken needed _something_ to take the edge off.

It had started at work. His employees had come to him in droves. By 9:30AM the surgeons, the janitors, the specialists, and their assistants swarmed him with requests the moment he left his office. He had been hoping that he merely needed to deal with some paperwork, as his job usually implied. Instead, he had to deal with a flock of negotiations, making one deal after the next. The head janitor wanted him to instigate a budgetary review of the cleaning supplies. The surgeons needed him to give the final say on a patient's kidney transplant, while the specialists had brought their assistants to see they could bargain for better pay.

Usually, he would have ordered them to approach him one by one, however he had been disoriented from the chaos and lack of sleep. With those two factors bearing down on him, it had been difficult to understand what was going on in the sea of their requests. Ryuken had tried to get them to stop, slamming his hand on the nearby wall. They had all gone quiet. Getting their attention had been the easier half. When he actually needed to say words, all that had come out of his mouth was a loose affiliation of syllables, each one more mumbled than the last.

They had looked at him quizzically. Ryuken was furious at their ignorance. What he had said was perfectly intelligible to him. One of the interns had stepped forward and asked "What did you say?"

Ryuken had repeated the collection of mumbles before promptly fainting. It was nothing dramatic. His body leaned against the wall until he slid onto the tiled floor. His eyes had fluttered briefly, catching the eyes of the doctors surrounding their boss, who had peered at him as if Ryuken had lost his mind.

When Ryuken had awoken he had felt nothing but embarrassment. A few of the doctors had come by to check on him and issued a notice that he was deemed unfit to resume work for three days. Apparently some of the senior doctors had asked his secretary about his recent work habits. It didn't take her long before she had given them a full history of his late night ventures, even noting unnecessary details, like how he appeared tired all the time and easily agitated. Worse still, there was a good chance that word would get to the review board at the local prefecture that the hospital's director wasn't healthy. There would be no greater humiliation than a personal inspection with the board, only to have them discover that he was an avid smoker and workaholic.

The doctors had said as much in their glances between each other and Ryuken. It only added to the embarrassment that the doctors patronized him, treating him as if he didn't recognize the ailment, as if he hadn't spent ten years studying to get into his occupation, and another ten years of experience in the field to get where he was today. Ryuken kept his composure; there was no sense adding aggravation to the list of faults for the board's review.

Twenty minutes later Ryuken had left. He had told his nurse that he was checking himself out, and that he wouldn't be back for another week. In his wake, he had escaped behind a spurring collection of rumours, all asking the same thing: whether Ryuken would be coming back any time soon. Ryuken had been thinking of something else entirely. How much of this was his own fault for bothering to train his ungrateful son?

He had taken the bus home. Ryuken didn't want to risk making any mistakes while driving, and the bus came by often enough that it didn't make any significant difference in time. He had greeted the driver with a half nod, before moving to the back of the bus. The Karakura bus system was new, but unorganized. Stops were spread out sporadically across the city and the routes between them awkward. In all fairness, the town had only recently become big enough to merit a transportation system aside from the bullet trains.

This had been fine with Ryuken. Sporadic stops meant that the bus stopped less, which moved even faster thanks to the dearth of people around in the early afternoon. Everyone except housewives and delinquents were at work or school. Ryuken hadn't wanted to be seen by too many people anyway. If the medical director of Karakura hospital were seen blank-eyed and tired, on the afternoon bus of all things, gossip would spread from the hospital like wild fire.

One kilometre before reaching his home, the bus had made one stop, much to Ryuken's disappointment. He was only disappointed further when he realized that the new passenger wasn't anyone human. It was Urahara, peculiarly without his typical hat and sandals, wearing a formal black suit with his hair slicked back instead. It was at least amusing to have see Urahara dressed in such a get up. Even in the he had walked, he was clearly out of his element.

"Fancy meeting you here, Ryuken!" He had said, laughter ringing in his voice. Ryuken had hardly believed this was a coincidence, but didn't jump to any conclusions. He had responded with the most obvious answer.

"I didn't know we were on a first name basis."

Urahara had looked dissatisfied, nevertheless had continued with his game anyway. Wrapping his arm around Ryuken's shoulder, Urahara dropped down in the seat beside him.

"You could have fooled me. Hey, but don't look so glum! I've got a package for you, just to show my gratitude for teaching Isshin nicely. It's nothing big, but I thought I'd hand-deliver it to drive the point home." Urahara had reached into his blazer and pulled out a brown parcel slightly larger than an 8 by 12 sheet of paper. Ryuken had refused to take it, attempting to ignore Urahara's existence all together. Again, Urahara had looked dissatisfied.

"Come on, Ryuken, take it. It's not going to eat you. Some of the other stuff I had prepared might, but I made sure this one was clean of any ravenous creatures," Urahara had insisted.

"The contents aren't of any interest to me."

"How'd you figure that? You haven't even opened it yet."

"It hardly takes a genius to realize this is some mediocre attempt to get me to join the juvenile rescue team you're putting together," Ryuken had said, throwing off Urahara's arm.

"Ah," Urahara replied. "So, Isshin already told you."

"Yes, he called me on his way home, though I imagined you would do this regardless. Chances are you were moments away from creating a team for that Orihime girl had you not anticipated this recent kidnapping."

Urahara had then paused. It was another quirk Ryuken had noticed. It was as if he was second guessing himself, or trying to think of ways he could modify his approach. Something must have happened to him in between the time that Isshin had left and Urahara's appearance then.

"Right," Urahara had said finally. He sunk into his seat before turning back to Ryuken. "Is there anything I can say that will convince you to come along? You know, it wouldn't be right for a father to leave his son stranded like that."

"Had he not been kidnapped, he would have gone after that girl on his own," Ryuken had sighed inaudibly. "Furthermore, I don't appreciate the constant parental criticism you've been giving me. You don't have a child of your own, nor are you responsible enough to keep track of one. You hardly have any right to comment on how I treat my son."

"Leaving your son in the hands of a murderer is more irresponsible than anything I could have come up with."

Ryuken had given him a sharp look.

"Fine, do what you like. There's no point arguing." Urahara had conceded and had pushed the button alerting the driver to stop at the next station. Two minutes later, the bus had arrived at its stop and Urahara had gotten off without a hitch. The man hadn't even bothered to wave facetiously goodbye as he had left.

As Ryuken had prepared to leave for his own stop, he had realized that Urahara had left the parcel in the chair beside his. Ryuken had picked up and subsequently hadn't been able to let go of it until he had entered his apartment some fifteen minutes later.

For most of the day, he had ignored it, idling his time by calling the high school to inform them that Uryu was 'sick' and would be 'sick' for quite some time. He also fulfilled some of the chores he still had yet to complete. Hours later, when he felt like there was nothing else to be done, he had sat down in his recliner and looked at the package again.

His curiosity stemmed less from the nature of package itself, and more on the manner in which it was given to him. Urahara had gone through a lot of effort to make it appear like he had been defeated. The 'defeat' was perhaps the most perverse moment of the day. Everyone, not only Ryuken, was used to seeing Urahara dance around his opponents both mentally and physically. Today it was as if he hadn't even bothered to exert himself. Ryuken wondered if that was a part of the game he was playing. Make it appear as if the parcel was the centre of something insignificant, and leave it behind, just to see if he picked it up.

That had to be it. It was all a part of Urahara's contrived plan to get him to join their rescue mission. Though, Ryuken had to admit, Urahara had succeeded in piquing his interest.

The rational choice would be to throw it out. Yes, he should pick it up from the coffee table and toss it in the trash. Ryuken was a man of his word, even to himself. He had broken a promise once in the last few weeks, and he didn't want to have the opportunity to break another one. He would not rescue his son from Uryu's own mistakes, and he would not play into Urahara's hand. He would throw it out.

But much to his annoyance he didn't. He looked at the packet, studying it up and down. He tried again to make good on his threat. He stood up and grabbed the envelope before wandering towards the nearest dustbin. His hand hovered over the rough brown paper wrapping, occasionally moving closer or farther away based on what his current inclinations were.

Eventually he gave up, and dropped it on his kitchen table. As long as he didn't change his mind, it wouldn't be a problem to open it. He made it another promise. Regardless of what he saw inside, he would not join up with Urahara's band of merry men. From his cupboard, he drew a small knife, and cut along the right edge of the package. Carefully out he slid a white folder, with another note of the front that read:

_Memento Mori_

Ryuken didn't recognize the handwriting, but suspected it was from one of Urahara's lackeys. On second glance the folder was clearly a police file. The tab was marked with a sticker entailing the date and case number, though everything except the date was scribbled out. According to the sticker, the case was from fifteen years ago, on March 19.

Ryuken paused. The date was familiar. Fifteen years ago, on March 19th he had been…

_Urahara, you couldn't have. You didn't. _

He opened up the folder. He immediately recognized the first image, a pool of blood on the sidewalk surrounding a man who had his limbs hacked off systematically. Chances are he had been at the scene before the police had. Ryuken hesitantly pushed the picture, only to reveal a more graphic one underneath. _Where did you get this, Urahara? _Beneath the images was a missing person's report for a fifteen year old girl from West Germany, named Nadia Adler. Her picture lay in the middle of the page, smiling from a time long before she had ever come to Japan.

Ryuken quickly spread the remaining pages across the table. The last four were images of a separate crime scene. Together, they revealed a shadowy, claustrophobic room which was covered in a thick layer of blood. The amount of blood was astounding, especially considering its source: a girl with a mask was half formed over her face. The exposed half grinned madly, her lips curling at the end. Below her was a Celtic cross just visible above the sheet of blood. The second one showed a close up of the girl's head, which had been cut at the neck.

The rest of the body was marked with drops of blood running down from neck, like a red veil formed over her skin. Even in her most grotesque form Nadia still appeared delicate somehow. Ryuken remembered standing above the girl, before the blood. He still remembered he mask, and the white spikes which seemed to emanate from every joint in her body.

And then it came back to him, the point he tried to repress the most. Ryuken had been the one who killed her.

He nearly smashed his fist into the counter in frustration.

It was something he had tried to ignore for years. He had founded his moral sense on the basis that March 19th had never happened. On the nights that he remembered, he would tell himself that her death was a mercy killing. She had been crying underneath the mask. She had asked him to –

On the last page of the folder, after all the papers and images had been pulled out, lay a note, personally written by Urahara and taped to the back: _SHE WAS THE FIRST TEST. URYU WILL BE THE FINISHED PRODUCT. _

_They want to turn him into an arrancar. _His thoughts spun about his brain, spiralling in multiple directions, but all arriving at the same conclusion.

_Uryu is going to become an arrancar._

Ryuken nearly fell on the wall behind him. He was tired, and had been since he had gotten home, however, his shock catalyzed it. It took all of his strength to keep his body up and to keep himself awake. Remembering the pack of cigarettes he had left on the counter, Ryuken took a long drag. The act was so much more relaxing than watching the leftover smoke rise to the ceiling. His legs buckled a little bit with each breath and before long he was halfway to the ground. A couple times he nearly fell, but he reasserted himself and pushed back up.

Still, he didn't sleep, at least not immediately. Ryuken leaned there, his legs bunched together against the wall and went on smoking. His thoughts revolved around the questions of morality and keeping his word. He had promised himself that he wouldn't change his mind. One little note from Urahara wasn't going to change that. Until he knew more, his inaction would remain. And even then, it had always been Uryu's decision. Ryuken had given warnings throughout Uryu's life that he was playing with things beyond him, that he should be practical.

In the off chance Urahara was telling the truth – Ryuken honestly didn't know what he should do.

* * *

Wednesday morning, Chad awoke to one of the quietest days of his life. He didn't expect it. Most mornings were chaotic so long as Ichigo, Orihime and Uryu were around. Ichigo would make some fuss in class. Uryu would call Ichigo an idiot in the halls. Orihime would be plagued by Chizuru, while Tatsuki did her best to defend her. Keigo would bother everyone and Mizuiro would bother Keigo. It made high school noisy, hectic and out of control, which to be honest was how Chad liked his mornings. Sure there were times that he enjoyed some peace but he had enough of that at home.

However, this Wednesday morning didn't have Ichigo, Orihime or Uryu. Chad assumed that they were off training or in Ichigo's case, recovering from the battle with that arrancar invasion. Where ever they were, they hadn't told him. That was fine. He knew his friends could take care of themselves. Orihime had told her teachers that she would be on vacation for a couple days but was due back yesterday. Ichigo would called in sick for weeks at a time, so it didn't surprise Chad that he was gone again. Uryu came to school sporadically (his excuse was helping with his dad's hospital), though he did his best not to miss more than one day of school at a time. Chad had had his fair share of absences too, so it was nothing he had any right to complain about. Regardless, it worried him that they were all missing on the same day. The teachers had no idea where they were, aside from Uryu.

_Apparently his father called in…_

Unfortunately their combined absence meant fewer outbursts from Chizuru and less reason for Tatsuki to defend anyone. Everyone Chad spent time with was either gone or keeping to themselves. It was like a depression had set in now that class had become less interesting.

The single exception to the rule was Keigo. He was still all for causing a ruckus, regardless of the fact that there was no one there who wanted to tolerate him. Then, when questioning why everyone was being so neglectful, he made a brash comment which earned him a punch in the face from Tatsuki, the first real conflict of the day. After that Keigo stayed quiet, like everyone else. Chad never said much to begin with, but as the day progressed he felt especially silent. Excluding the regular high school tasks of answering questions and exchanging short pleasantries, Chad didn't say anything for most of the day.

Six unrelenting hours after the day had begun, Chad found himself picking up his things to go home again. His plan was to go see Urahara. Urahara had promised to let Renji and Chad spar for training purposes, although, Tessai had refused to let him the day before and had said that Renji had left for Soul Society. Chad felt completely out of the loop, and intended to ask Urahara for some answers.

Before he could leave, Tatsuki wandered up to him, blocking his exit through the door.

"Hey, Chad," She began. She looked at him weirdly, unsure of how to continue. "I've looked everywhere for Orihime. She's not at home. She said she'd be back, but she's nowhere. It's like her presence is completely gone."

Chad waited for her to go on, surprised as well that Orihime could just disappear. She glanced at him again. There were signs of anger and hopelessness in her eyes, however Chad didn't think she would hit him. It was her usual way of dealing with problems like this but Chad was too big, too strong and not a close enough friend that she would take it all out on him. He was thankful Ichigo wasn't here. She would have punched him the moment she saw him.

Given a minute, Tatsuki started to calm down.

"I thought you might know something, but hah, I guess not." She laughed the awkwardness off, putting a hand behind her head. "You know I was meaning to ask Ichigo, but he hasn't been to school for a while. He's probably gone off and done something stupid again. You're the only person I know who hangs out with Ichigo with any lick of sense in them. "

"Yeah, thanks," Chad smiled and made a small laugh. That seemed to put Tatsuki a little more at ease. "If you want to know where he is, his family should know."

Chad felt bad for leading her on a wild goose chase, yet it was the only answer he could give her.

"Thanks." She smiled and then paused again, looking thoughtful. "Do you know what Ichigo's doing outside of school?"

Chad shrugged.

"Like, have you seen him in a black kimono?" She asked, almost pleading with him for an answer.

"No, I don't think I've seen Ichigo doing that," Chad replied. Who Ichigo chose to tell his secret to was his business. Chad wasn't about reveal his secret without Ichigo's permission. Tatsuki looked disappointed at the response. Still, she did her best to keep a cheerful face. "Sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about it! Thanks anyway Chad."

With that she sauntered out the door. Chad walked out behind her, leaving the school grounds to catch a bus. He needed to see Urahara soon.

Twenty minutes later and Chad was knocking on the shōji doors to Urahara's shop. It took another ten minutes for Tessai to answer the door and attempt to shoo him away.

"I'm sorry, but the shop is closed today. Come back tomorrow we can accommodate you fully."

"That's what you told me yesterday."

"Mr. Yasutora, I apologize, but you will have to come back tomorrow." Tessai insisted. He moved to slide the door closed. Chad put his foot in the way and tried to push the door back open.

"Let me speak with Mr. Urahara."

"If you don't leave now, you will be trespassing. I don't deal well with trespassers. " Tessai threatened and pulled the door away from Chad, sliding it shut on Chad's foot. Chad didn't show any sign of pain and fought to keep the door open.

"A girl came to me and asked me where Miss Inoue was, and I had no idea. " Chad yelled into the shop, finally angry at Urahara's refusal to come out. "I was her last resort. Mr. Urahara where are my friends!"

"It is time for you to leave!" Tessai opened the door just enough that he could kick Chad into the air, sending him flying ten feet back. Chad got back up and ran back to the door. Tessai shut it before he could get close. Chad hammered his fist into the paper wall only to have it bounce back.

_A barrier?_

Chad drew strength into his right arm and tried again and again, eventually changing it into the right arm of the giant. He pounded into the barrier, though it was clear he wasn't damaging it. He relented, drawing strength in his right arm again. The spike on his right shoulder split into three and then lit up as he prepared for the attack. He took a stance and then charged at the door fist first.

"Oh, ho ho," Chad heard a cackle come from inside the shop. "If you wanted to see me why didn't you just ask?"

Chad stopped his charge and groaned. He wasn't used to that ability yet, nor his new arm.

"I'm a bit busy today I'm afraid, so you'll have to be quick," Urahara opened the door in his normal mismatched clothing, wearing a sly grin and beating the air with a fan. Chad advanced towards the door once more.

"Where is Orihime?" Chad asked.

"Aizen kidnapped her when she was coming home from Soul Society three nights ago." Urahara replied, decidedly keeping his smile.

"What about Ichigo?"

"Also kidnapped by Aizen," Urahara said and leaned on the door's wooden frame so that his fan could catch more of the moving air. "That one was two nights ago."

"Is Uryu okay?" Chad shuffled in closer.

"Kidnapped."

"When?" Chad demanded. The facetious act was really starting to get to him.

"That was the same night Ichigo was kidnapped." Urahara opened up his shirt and started to fan his chest. Chad shook his head. Three of his friends had been stolen from him. The arrancar had managed to capture Ichigo of all people. If they could take him, they could take any one of them. Chad had made leaps and bounds with his own ability, but he knew Ichigo was still stronger than him. Thinking about it made Aizen's creatures suddenly seem a lot more powerful than he had envisioned.

"Oh, and Mr. Freeloader's doing fine. I'll tell him you asked about him." Urahara interjected.

"Yeah, what did happen to Renji?"

"He, and all the other shinigami, went home to prepare for Aizen's assault. Kidnapping one unit under their command and two civilians is a serious offense in the game of war. Don't be surprised if you see more than a couple explosions in the sky soon."

"They're not going to help bring them back?" It seemed unfair that Soul Society just abandoned his friends when they needed their help the most, especially Orihime, who was taken while under their care.

"Nah, they have more important things to do, like coordinating a defense strategy to defend the town. Top command is making sure that anyone who leaves Soul Society or lets someone leave loses their rank. Sorry, but you won't be seeing Renji _or_ Rukia for a while."

Chad could hardly believe it. He never expected Karakura Town to be a full-on battlefield. There had been skirmishes in the past, however Chad never anticipated it would grow any larger than that. He was used to fighting small groups of almost equal numbers. A war. Things were unquestionably getting out of hand. There had to be some way he could help control this, at least recover his friends before life became completely out of the ordinary.

"Urahara, let me into Hueco Mundo. I'll bring Orihime, Ichigo and Uryu back." Chad declared. He meant what he said. Even if no one could help him, he was determined to return his friends before any further harm could be done to them. He had made a promise to them the first time they entered, that they would do their best to protect each other.

"Out-of-the-question," Urahara said, pronouncing the words slowly. He didn't try to look at Chad and continued fanning himself. "Chad, going into Aizen's domain on your own is complete suicide, and not the kind that'll land you Soul Society either."

Chad just moved in closer. Urahara laughed.

"How about this, come back, say, Thursday 7:00AM?" Urahara offered, creeping slowly back into his shop. "I'll have a plan ready for you then." Urahara glanced at his wrist, though there was nothing actually there. "Unfortunately this is all the time I have for the day. See you tomorrow!" Urahara waved and then slammed the door shut in Chad face.

Chad didn't try to break through, instead turning around to take another bus home. He'd come back tomorrow, early, and wait for whatever nightmares Urahara and Hueco Mundo had in store for him. He just hoped that Uryu, Ichigo and Orihime would be safe until then.

* * *

Uryu awoke in a heap of dirt, his face covered in mud. Wiping the muck from his eyes and then his glasses, he looked up. His surroundings weren't anything like where he remembered being. There were no operation tables, no vials, no mad scientist, and no girl dangling from the ceiling. Instead, there was an undulating hill, rising until just beyond his vision.

_Where am I? _

Beside him was a rushing stream, which led to a bridge overhead. The bridge looked a little old, and was only big enough for one car to pass through on either side. Rocks paved the other side of the stream, piling up to what looked like buildings, though it was difficult to see beyond the immense fog. It was a nice scene, quiet aside from a few birds and a little wind. It was also very familiar. Perhaps he was being optimistic, but the environment reminded him of Karakura Town. Only thing that made him think otherwise was the fog, which loomed far behind him and mildly across the stream.

The fog was a prominent feature down the stream, opposite of the bridge. It billowed and foamed over the landscape like it was a liquid instead of a gas. Uryu walked towards it until he realized that there was a distinct barrier between the areas that were covered in the thick fog and those that weren't. He could place his hand on the exact point where they separated and view them as almost two different worlds. After a few minutes, he decided that if Szayel had danger prepared for him, it would be through the fog.

He attempted to walk into it, but the fog soon became too thick and found himself wandering back to the spot from which he had entered. He came out feeling damp and cold, as if he had just wandered out of a cave. Uryu wasn't discouraged, braving a second round with the fog. Again, it brought him back to the same point. He speculated whether if he went straight, without changing direction or position, he should avoid confusing himself back to the starting point. He took a step back, then walked directly into the mist. Despite his attempts to head in one direction, within minutes he was stumbling back to where he had started.

Uryu didn't bother with it a fourth time. He turned around and walked along the stream. There had to be a constructed path for him to follow and security measures in place to make sure he did so. It made sense. If Szayel wanted him to go in a certain direction, why not eliminate his capacity to veer elsewhere? The stream appeared like a good thing to follow. It had the sun hanging over it with few clouds, and as Uryu walked, he could see a paved road leading under the bridge. Everything was laid out for him. He felt like he was in a video game and that fog was the boundary line. Although, Uryu had to admit, that if this was Hueco Mundo he didn't mind being there, creepy fog aside.

Further along the path Uryu saw, of all things, a cemetery on the other side of the bridge. His mind returned to Karakura Town, and suddenly realized why it was all so familiar. The stream, the bridge and the cemetery were taken exactly from his beloved home. Uryu remembered taking the same path under the bridge when he was a child. Though, at the time he had been running away from the cemetery, not towards it. This led to a second important realization, after which he felt the sudden urge to run again. Uryu ran back under the bridge and went to see if the path that went up to the main road was there. It was, and he used it to climb to the top of the bridge. From there he could see the entire landscape.

The scene almost made him laugh. He_ was _in the middle of Karakura Town, pristine and laid out exactly like he remembered, except now there were small clouds of fog forming on buildings and in the middle of roads, sometimes encompassing an entire block. It couldn't be so easy that Szayel had already performed all his insane tests and left him behind, could it? _No._ That fog was too glaring an anomaly. He couldn't reason it out as just an odd meteorological glitch. Plus, if Szayel _had _finished with him, it would have been more efficient to kill him so he couldn't come back later.

_Unless, he rendered that impossible. _By instinct, Uryu formed a bow using nearby spirit particles. He shot one arrow, then twenty, increasing the numbers of arrows proportionally to his previous limits. Reaching one thousand arrows at once, his hands dropped to his knees in exhaustion. His bow, Lone Sparrow was fine as were his Quincy abilities. But still, this _wasn't_ his home, so his keeping his powers must be part of a test.

Wondering where to go next, Uryu looked back at the cemetery. A quiet ringing emanated from within. Uryu raised his hand to his ear to see if he could get a better listen. It was sobbing. Someone or something in the cemetery was crying. _There's someone else here? _Uryu crouched and walked down the side of the hill back into the cemetery, searching for the voice's source. He made sure he was ready to retrieve his bow at any sign of attack.

A part of him regretted not walking through the main gate as part of tradition, but he figured that since it was a fake town, tradition didn't mean much. The thought blew away once the crying began to sound like a child's, though Uryu wasn't entirely sure. It was difficult to see if there was anyone actually there. The lines of gravestones heading at least five hundred meters along the banks of the stream created a labyrinth that made things easy to miss. After a few minutes of fruitless surveillance, decided to just focus in on the sound.

"Hello?" The crying turned into howling, but Uryu still couldn't hone in on where it was coming from. He'd be walking towards it one moment, and the next he would be hearing it far behind him. "Hello!" He called again, cupping a hand around his mouth to see if his voice would be amplified. "Anyone? If you're here it's okay to come out! I'm another prisoner! "

The voice didn't respond, only increasing the volume at which they bawled. Its elusiveness started to try Uryu's nerves.

"I'm a friend, I won't hurt you!" Uryu yelled a second time.

"Leave me alone!" The child replied, choking on his own tears. It came from beside him. Uryu shifted his weight and slowly turned his head. A boy was a few stones down, hunched over the Ishida family's grave site. Suddenly the scene looked a lot more like a trap. What were the chances that a boy would be drooped on top of _his _family's grave. Uryu backed off and tried to get a better look at the kid. Carefully, he strafed around the cemetery until he was crouched down in the same row as the boy. While he didn't see the child's face, Uryu could tell that he was lanky with perfect black hair and was wearing a suit, though his tie had been thrown on the ground beside him.

It was eerie watching the child there cry endlessly. Uryu crept a few steps forward. The boy didn't seem to notice him, his face buried deep between his arms. The scene brought up this nagging feeling up from within Uryu. It pecked at him, telling him that he was missing something. Uryu rattled his brain but couldn't put his finger on it.

Despite his concern, the closer he got the less it seemed like a trap. There were no immediate changes in the environment, and Uryu could sense no reiatsu coming from the boy or anything else for that matter. The kid just kept crying. Feeling ridiculous, Uryu stood up and walked the last steps over to where the boy was kneeling.

"Hey, are you okay?" Uryu asked in a quiet voice.

"I said I want to be alone!" The boy cried out, coughing a little as he said it. Uryu reached out and put a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Don't worry you-"

"Don't touch me!" The boy turned to him, his face a wreck, tears dripping from his eyes and his nose. Uryu immediately pulled back. Not because the boy told to, but because the boy was him. The tearful mess screaming and yelling above his grandfather's and mother's final resting place was himself, as an seven year old child.

Uryu watched as the boy went back to sobbing with a morbid curiosity. The child Uryu had to be from the day of his grandfather's funeral. He could remember the day almost exactly as it was. He and his father were the only ones who had come as his grandfather had outlived all of his other relatives and friends. Uryu cried throughout the ceremony and was thanked by Ryuken's scoldings, looking upon him as if he was being some kind of nuisance. When the ritual was complete, they had gone to say their final goodbyes. They both knelt down in respect bowing their heads. Uryu had hoped to see his father cry alongside him. Instead he gave the rock one meaningful look and left. _I'll be waiting for you in the car. _Uryu had stayed there for hours, refusing to leave despite what others had said.

While no human could have driven him away, Uryu had been quick to run when once he had heard the cry of a hollow coming nearby. Unconfident in his own abilities without his grandfather, Uryu hadn't even attempted to fight the monster back on his own. His father had been waiting for him by the car, as he had promised, smoking a cigarette. Ryuken had frowned as the weepy and panicking Uryu drew near. _It seems you're crying for everything today. Stop it. The hollow will be taken care of._ As Ryuken had pushed Uryu into the car, Uryu had seen an arrow fly out and kill the hollow with a single shot. Before, Uryu had held some hope that it was his grandfather's ghost, somehow protecting him from beyond the grave. He knew better now.

It took a few minutes but eventually his seven year old self quieted down. Wiping the excess liquid from his eyes, he propped up his knees and wrapped himself into a ball. Uryu was deciding between comforting his younger self or simply leaving him be, when the boy turned to him. His face was still red, occasionally making a sniffling noise.

"Do you know where my daddy is?" He asked softly. "I know he said he was waiting for me, but I thought he might come to get me. D-do you know if he's coming?"

Uryu could only shake his head. If this recreation of his childhood was supposed to be accurate, Ryuken wouldn't be showing up any time soon. Little Uryu sadly nodded before looking back at the gravestone.

Whatever this was, it scared the life out Uryu. How could Szayel make a precise re-enactment of his grandfather's funeral? The child had just said the exact line he had told a priest, who had approached him wondering why a child was alone in the middle of a cemetery. And, why would he do it? Uryu could see little gain in having him watch his younger self cry.

"Hey, you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?" The boy looked at him curiously. This was new.

" I'm- I mean my name is…" Uryu struggled for a response, but stopped when he saw the kid was no longer paying attention. His eyes focused on something above and behind him. Uryu glanced around, almost certain of what he might see. A rather plain looking hollow stood 20 feet tall, its arms spread out, ready to grab the smaller Uryu. After a moment, it made its warring cry and jumped on its prey. The boy erupted into tears and burst out of the cemetery. Uryu of now knew that if he waited a moment he would see an arrow shoot from beyond the bridge and obliterate the hollow. Uryu didn't want to wait.

He pulled out his bow and shot the hollow right through the neck. The hollow began to evaporate almost instantly. _Ryuken, I can take care of myself. _

Uryu paid his respects to his grandfather and then climbed onto the road through the gates. Not sure where to go, he decided to head towards his apartment near the school. His impression of the town was exactly as he remembered, although, it changed the more he delved into the streets. There were significant peculiarities with this Karakura's appearance. Fog covered much of the buildings' sides and entire blocks were impossible to see through or enter. This became more apparent in certain parts of the city. When he ventured into an area he never been before, the houses and flora seemed to disappear into the mist. Yet, in the more memorable parts the world was exact, the landscape almost glowing from the sun's rays.

What was odder was that Uryu could have sworn that he saw himself on multiple occasions. There was the twelve year old him exiting the fabric store for the first time, and the ten year old him coming out of the elementary school. These illusions all vanished within a couple seconds and left Uryu feeling disturbed. It was like Szayel had taken his memories and dumping them out on this world for his own amusement.

Uryu neared the park in between the school, his apartment and the local convenience store. In the past he had used it as a shortcut. What changed his mind was being attacked by an incomplete arrancar while he was unable to access most of his Quincy abilities. He had recovered since then, but it didn't seem like a good idea to return somewhere he had been attacked. In spite of this, Uryu wondered if he would be able to see it replayed again. Sure enough, the closer he came the sun began to disappear as day turned to night. Soon the grotesque hollow formed out the air, and there was him, locked in battle with it. 1

Watching the fight again he realized how little of a struggle he had put up without his Quincy abilities, especially up against the dipartite hollow's instant regeneration. Within a minute, his plans had failed and this other Uryu was tied up and ready to be eaten. The hollow's tongue sagged towards him.

Before it could touch him, an arrow shot into the frey, cutting the tongue off near its teeth.

"That was unsightly of you," Even in this dream world the voice spoke with a callous amount of dissatisfaction, "Uryu."

Uryu saw that that his other was stunned, however he was expecting this moment. His father came out from beneath trees, a cigarette in one hand and a bow in another.

"You- You're Ryuken." His other said, exasperated. Ryuken took a breath of his cigarette, looking at Uryu's past self head on.

"Using your father's first name again," Ryuken shook his head. "You never change, do you, Uryu?"

In the background the hollow vomited blood. Ryuken shot another arrow into the hollow's mouth.

"You're too noisy."

Uryu couldn't restrain himself and interrupted the memory by shooting six arrows towards the hollow's weak spots. The monster collapsed, its body too damaged to regenerate. Uryu walked through the park to where the monster had been. By the time he arrived, the memory seemed to end itself now that it had been disrupted, except that once the hollow and Uryu's other disappeared, the Ryuken lingered behind.

"You're such a fool. This spectacle proved nothing." Ryuken said, turning away to take another drag of his cigarette. "You have no talent."

Uryu was genuinely shocked this time. This Ryuken seemed to be respond to his actions. Uryu waved a hand in front of his father's face.

"Stop that! Don't act like an idiot." Ryuken spat. Uryu took a step back. He summoned his bow and raised it towards Ryuken's head.

"Szayel, stop pretending to be my father. This world and your theatrics are only beginning to try my nerves."

"Try _your_ nerves?" This other Ryuken scoffed. "Do you remember the promise you made me?"

Uryu raised an eyebrow. "I don't see how that has anything to do with you, Szayel."

"You said you wouldn't get involved with the Shinigami anymore. Our agreement was that you would keep yourself out of harms way if I helped you recover your abilities." Ryuken proposed, giving Uryu a peculiar look. "Where are you now, Uryu?"

"I was kidnapped."

"You were kidnapped because you were too weak to take care of yourself and too headstrong to pay attention." Ryuken said, turning his back to Uryu. "Sometimes I wonder if I managed to teach you _anything_."

"That's absurd; this was completely out of my control. I did not choose to come here." Uryu said his voice stoic. He refused to become enraged by these accusations. Besides, he had been mentally preparing for a conversation like this since they attacked him. If Szayel had something right, it was that Ryuken would always find a reason to insult him.

"You would have left anyway." Ryuken said, tossing his cigarette to the ground and then stomping on it with his heel. "What was the name of your friend? Inoue, was it?"

"What does she have to with this?"

"She was kidnapped, the night before you were. Didn't you notice her reiatsu vanished? Or were you too busy 'wallowing in your own bile'?"

Uryu stayed silent. Whoever he was, he was right. Uryu hadn't been paying attention to anyone else's reiatsu since his training started. He assumed she was still training in Soul Society. He cautioned himself. This could all be provocation. Uryu may not have been paying attention to Orihime's spirit energy, but that didn't imply she was missing.

"The minute you discovered that, I imagine you'd be high tailing it for Urahara's, with Ichigo Kurosaki no less."

"Don't assume things about me. You have no idea how I would respond."

"It's easy to predict how a no talent hack like you will react. It's because you never think. Sometimes I wonder what Soken saw in you. "

Uryu fired an arrow one centimetre away from 'Ryuken's' head. "_Szayel_, your insane plans have nothing to do with my grandfather. Stop pretending to be my father and do something rational for a change."

"He was my father before he was your grandfather." Ryuken lit another cigarette and toyed with it with his fingers. "He probably chose you because he was growing senile. I wouldn't doubt that's how he was killed in the first place. He grew so fragile he couldn't even hold his bow properly. "

Uryu shot another arrow, this one aimed right between the faux-Ryuken's eyes. The body stumbled over, and Uryu wondered whether he had shot something real for a change. He kneeled down to see this Ryuken almost smiling, a look of contentment upon his face. Then it disappeared like every other memory he had encountered. Uryu got up and left. Despite the lengths Szayel had gone to recreate his father, he had clearly gotten something wrong. Uryu had never seen his father even come close to smiling.

By the time Uryu had left the park and approached the replica of his home it was daytime again. To his surprise his apartment was more or less how he left it. The environment was as colourful as before (maybe more so), ringing with the sound of cicadas from outside. The food was in the fridge. His sewing kit was on the table. His computer functioned at the usual pace, though the Internet refused to work. The phone also seemed to have power coming to it much the same way, his home was otherwise perfect with not a detail out of place.

Uryu walked to his bed, and dropped. His bed was welcoming and warm, more so than the cot his father had provided him. And being home for a change did help his nerves. If he ignored previous conflicts Szayel's test had become oddly comfy.

Uryu closed his eyes and tried to think his situation out rationally.

What did Szayel have to gain by doing this? Congratulations, he had made an unfinished replica of Karakura Town. That seemed about as effective test as taking mice from their cage, and then placing them in a labyrinth which looked just like it. The point of this had to be something to do with the way it was built. The parts of the city which he could explore were practically glowing. Of course there were also parts of the city that were impenetrable and covered in fog. On top that, Szayel had sprinkled Uryu's memories all over the city. Uryu expected to see a couple hundred of him if he ever went by the high school.

Uryu thought about that for a moment. _Hundreds of my memories…What if everything here is just a memory? _That would explain why the parts of the town that he'd never entered were cover by fog. His mind wouldn't know what was there, and so would need to cover it up. Then when it pieced it all together it brought some of his past with it. After all, the whole thing was a collection of what he remembered, it would make sense if the emotional memories were dragged also.

_Am I crazy?_ The last solid thing he remembered was…

Flashes came to him, moments where he had been awake, moments when he hadn't been in immense pain, only recovering from it on a large metal table. There was every so often the sound of a metal drill and feeling of his flesh rippling, being cut apart. A very sickly looking Ichigo had been beside him, while some girl hung just out of his grasp. He had been tortured? Maybe dissected, Uryu didn't put it past Szayel. Uryu went to bathroom to get a better look of his body in mirror. For whatever reason, there were still bruises from the series of fights he had with his father and then the arrancars, but no scars. There was no sign that Szayel had done anything to him. He front and back were clear. Either Szayel had managed to do whatever he did without ever touching him, or this body wasn't real.

He was probably on the metal table still. His mind had locked himself up in his brain to avoid whatever was going on in reality. Perhaps this was a quincy version of the zanpakutou world shinigamis had. Damn, he _was_ going crazy.

Uryu paused and took a deep breath. There was no reason to come up with theories that he was insane just yet. Plus, he had almost forgotten about Ryuken. He doubted his subconscious would take the effort to make a replica of his father who only existed to infuriate him. Szayel definitely had some influence, even if it didn't seem immediately obvious. The fake Ryuken's smile gave him confidence. Uryu was sure he had never seen his father make that face. Doubtless, Ryuken must have smiled at one point while Uryu was alive, but it certainly wasn't like that.

Once he had calmed down, Uryu went to get a change of clothes. The ones he was wearing now were a little muddy and more than a little sweaty. His closet only had two things, his school uniform and his Quincy outfit. That's all his mind had chosen to remember. He went with the Quincy outfit, figuring that it was comfortable and durable when the evitable fight came round. As put on his shirt, he noticed an odd noise coming from the main room. It sounded like static. Uryu put on the rest of his clothes and peeked into the room. The television was on. He tried to turn it off.

"Don't touch that dial! We have special news coming live from Karakura Town General Hospital." Szayel's voice boomed out of the television's speakers. Uryu recoiled against Szayel's voice pounding in his ear. Moving farther away from the screen, Uryu watched as a camera went on; revealing Szayel in what looked like his father's training facility. Szayel walked along one of the platform to sit down in a corner. He cross his legs and pouted as if he was about to teach a schoolboy.

"Uryu, I hope you've given some thought on what's going on here. I gave you half an hour to think so it's within our mutual interest that you have some understanding of tonight's events, on a simple level anyway." Szayel made a deprecating grin. "Yes, don't fret, you aren't any more crazy than you were before. This is a little thing I've managed to cook up with the help of Enire. One of his many poisons locks you up in your own mind, with little more to assist you than your own memories. Fortunately I've discovered a much broader and more useful application."

"I added some of my own hard work, and now I have some control of what goes this mess you call a brain. I can make perfect tests without physically harming the patient. Unless I kill them. Or they kill themselves. It's happened before. "

Szayel paused for a moment, contemplating something.

"I think its best we start the trials now. Playing with you has definitely been fun, but we need to get some work done." Szayel pulled himself out of his seat and then began to walk further into the facility. The camera followed him. "Pay attention to your boob tube, Uryu."

Szayel climbed up a set of stairs that momentarily went upside. Attached to the ceiling was a chair, which held Ryuken in a series of straps. Ryuken's hair was pulled back, glasses forcibly tied to his face and his mouth duct taped shut. He also appeared to be bleeding from his neck. In one hand Szayel held a Seele Schneider, coated with some of Ryuken's dripping blood. He slid the sword right next to his father's throat. Szayel looked directly at Uryu.

"Get here in five minutes or I'll kill him, and then I'll kill you." A timer appeared in the top right corner of the screen. "See you soon! If you need to find me I'll be on all the major news channels." With that the TV turned itself off. The room went silent.

Uryu was flabbergasted. He was so outraged that he had yet to make a decision. It was a trap. Of course it was a trap! The point was to get him into a secluded place so that he'd be much easier to control. Yet, the threat was very real. Uryu was sure that Szayel would kill him if he didn't make the time, regardless of whether that was his actual father or not! That was a different matter entirely. How could Ryuken possibly end up here? It was his mind! On the other hand, Szayel proved to have moderate control of this world, so it was feasible that Ryuken was dragged in with him.

That didn't matter. He had to make a decision. His own life was in danger as well. Uryu looked at a clock on his petit wooden dining table. 4:30 _And counting down…_

He didn't have any more time to spare. Uryu burst out of his apartment window at half speed. To save energy he wrapped the spirit particles in air around his legs, using their force rather than his own. A useful side effect was that it made Hirenkyaku painless, though it did slow him down. Had he gone at full force the pain from sustaining the technique on his battered leg muscles would have brought him to his knees. The hospital was roughly six kilometers from his home. If he kept a constant speed, Uryu calculated he could be there in three and a half minutes.

As before the streets were barren and gave him no trouble simply breezing through the air. It wasn't as fast, but the controls were tighter and stopped him from moving in an uncontrollable mad dash from one point to another.

Uryu bounced from intersection to intersection, silence greeting him with every step. There were no signs of the end, laughter to mark his ultimate doom. No, he had five minutes left till some elaborate death and the world was fine. While he enjoyed the hush nature of the world, it seemed against Szayel's code not to put some mark of destruction as Uryu went. He considered the chance that the stillness was supposed to be the torment. If so, Szayel had misjudged him. It was less than four months prior that he had chose to make friends with Orihime, Chad and even Ichigo. Until then he had spent the time alone, in a world much like the one around him. In fact, the quiet reminded him of how peaceful Karakura Town had been before Rukia arrived.

Approaching at their heel, the front doors of Karakura General Hospital seemed intimidating now that his, and possibly his father's life depended on them. Their arguments now seemed vaguely inconsequential. No matter how much he felt begrudged against Ryuken, if his father _was_ in need of help then he deserved it as much as anyone else. Uryu opened the door, went inside and started to look for the entrance to the basement.

Uryu didn't think many people knew about the underground training facility aside from him and Ryuken. From what he was told, Ryuken had had the basement level built during one of the hospital's renovations. He had kept the addition off the blueprints also, preventing any inspectors or police from wondering what might be down there. The employees didn't know about it, and the walls were lined to prevent anyone from sensing any spirit energy inside it. The only person who might its existence was Urahara. Szayel must have literally picked through Uryu's brain to find out this information.

Uryu grabbed the handle the one doorway that led to the lower level, hidden near Ryuken's office. He flashed down the stairs, into the center of the training room. Immediately, he heard clapping coming from above him. Standing on a high ledge was Szayel. He jumped down to where Uryu was situated and placed his hand on his shoulder. Uryu tried to nudge it off but Szayel gripped tighter. His hand was colder than Uryu expected, sending shivers down his back.

"Good job, boy. You made it here in exactly four minutes and eight seconds. Didn't even leave it close, did he, eh Ryuken?"

Ryuken dropped from the ceiling, accompanied by an arrow heading right for Uryu's head. Uryu leaped back, pushing aside Szayel tight grip.

"As you probably suspected, this isn't your real father. It's another memory, though a memory that can and wants to hurt you." Szayel said pointing out the stoic looking Ryuken standing beside him.

"Stop these insane tests!" Uryu threaten. He revealed his bow and aimed one hundred arrows, fifty to each of his enemies. "You'll find that my head can't be so easily gamed."

"Oh, this test isn't mine. It's his." Szayel laughed. He backed off to let the other Ryuken take it from here.

"Uryu, despite your continuing failures, I've decided to give you some remedial training. We'll fight until only one of us can stand. In the poor chance you succeed, I'll admit that you're a lot luckier than I believed. " Ryuken's other shot a single arrow, faster than Uryu could anticipate. It landed on his knee, causing him to stumble over. "I'll give you a fifteen second head start. " Ryuken prepared three more arrows.

"I suggest you start running."

To be continued.

_**NOTE:** If you want a better context for what's happening in the first conversation Uryu has with Ryuken, read the Bleach Manga chapters 185-189_


	8. Senior Sunrise

_Authors Note: Umm, so I'm two/three days late depending on your time zone. Still, it's been a week since my last chapter? I'd call that a record goddamn it. Urrgh, no excuses, right? A couple quick comments. First, the next chapter or the one after is probably going to be the end of the introductory part. We'll really start getting into the meat of the plot soon, I promise. I hope I've made the illusion at least that I've been building up to something. Second, I'm honestly not sure what to do with Yammy when I mention the Espada. He's a not a major character in any sense, but when I refer to the top 3, know that I'm talking about StaRRk, Harribel and Barragan. Third, I did a little reading up and it seems I have the month wrong in which this started. Not sure why I picked March, but now that is letting me fix these without reuploading the entire story, I'll fixing that before the next chapter is out, which will hopefully be one week from now.  
_

_ Side Note: I'm honestly a little nervous about this chapter and potentially the next two. I'll hold off saying anything, but if any readers see any constructive criticism which can be made about this chapter, please feel free to comment. _

_**TL;DR Here's Chapter 8 - enjoy. **  
_

**Chapter 8: Senior Sunrise **

At first, Uryu refused to move. He had run from his last fight and because of that, he was now forced into a new one. A fight, in truth, that wasn't real. That didn't matter, because he wanted to win it regardless. This Ryuken wore the same white suit with blue tie and carried the same indifferent expression. Yet, this man wouldn't hesitate to kill him if given the chance. Uryu wasn't about to let him.

However Uryu knew that this wasn't the real problem at hand. His fight with Ryuken was the most pressing issue, but Szayel was the cause. The arrancar stood far away from the fight, watching both Ryuken and Uryu eagerly from one of the higher platforms. Uryu took a step back and eyed the monstrous figure of his father standing in front of him. This fight was Szayel's fault. Uryu guessed that the most immediate way to stop this fight was by attacking the source. Szayel had conjured up this scenario. Perhaps if Uryu broke Szayel's concentration he could gain some advantage over the fight.

Uryu ran off to the left, his extra time not over yet, and climbed a set of stairs. At the top, he pulled back his bow. A powerful arrow materialized and launched towards the platform Szayel was standing on. Szayel saw the movement, and jumped out of reach. Grinning, he waved to Uryu and pointed towards his father.

Uryu turned to his right. Three arrows were already soaring towards him. Uryu barely evaded the attack, using hirenkyaku to leap back to another set of stairs.

"It seems you've wasted your time," Ryuken's other said, the head start he'd promised clearly over. "I'm your enemy Uryu. You'll have to focus if you want to come close to surviving this fight."

Uryu jumped back onto a ledge, rapid firing three arrows towards Ryuken's head. Ryuken obviously wasn't going to let him get close to attacking Szayel. He was right. If Uryu wanted to survive their match, Uryu would have to focus on him. Szayel would have to wait until an opportunity showed itself.

Instantly, Ryuken shot three arrows, cancelling out Uryu's. He climbed to a platform a few feet away from Uryu and responded with two arrows of his own. Uryu saw them coming. He leapt further back onto one of the higher up platforms. There, he launched as many arrows as he could. They chased his father as he ran across one of the lower level paths, each one landing a second after he made a step. The last one caught Ryuken's foot, momentarily slowing him down. _One shot isn't going to get rid of you, is it?_

Seeing a moment of opportunity, Uryu hurdled himself off the platform.

"Licht Regen!" He screamed. As he fell, a burst of light collected on his left shoulder. It was his compressed reiryoku , forming itself outside his body. One thousand arrows materialized on his bow, and while Ryuken was still in sight, he fired all of them at once. A storm of his blue tinted spirit arrows crashed into the ground where Ryuken was standing. Uryu landed in a small path between two higher levels. He huffed as the torrential sound of the attack rippled through the arena.

Licht Regen wasn't an attack he could use often. It left him tired, and if the opponent expected or avoided the attack, Uryu would be open to a counter. In one of the first training matches he had had with Ryuken, Uryu had tried to use this as his opening move. Ryuken had easily dodged the onslaught and used the occasion to come up behind him.

This time Uryu was ready. He spun around, holding his breath, and fired. His arrows hit the wall with a loud crack, encountering nothing in between.

_Damn it! You should be here! _Uryu had assumed that since this Ryuken was made of his memories, it would follow a predictable pattern. _There goes that plan. _Uryu went into a defensive stance until the smoke around where he had last seen Ryuken cleared. Once it did, it revealed a mostly unscathed Ryuken lighting a cigarette already pressed between his lips. His bow steamed. Uryu was aghast. The only way the scene made sense was if Ryuken had blocked his attack his own, firing one shot for every arrow that came near him.

Ryuken sighed. "You didn't put enough power into each arrow. How many times do I have to remind you that consistency is absolutely necessary for that attack. Here, let me demonstrate." Ryuken raised his bow towards Uryu. "Licht Regen."

There was nothing Uryu could do except run the moment Ryuken aimed at him. The thousand arrow volley flew towards him like a violent hurricane. He desperately applied hirenkyaku to dive into another path between the two ascending platforms. The rain of arrows flew into the wall behind him, each building a miniature crator into the wall. The pounding of the volley echoed in the small corridor where Uryu had launched himself.

Despite his initial optimism, Uryu knew the fight was not going his way. Had he wasted another second gawking he would have been killed. Furthermore, the wounds he had amassed from previous fights still hindered his movement. There was no doubting now, if he ever had, that this Ryuken was willing to murder him. His father had never used Licht Regen on him. The only time he had seen Ryuken use the ability was against plastic targets…_after I used it 'incorrectly'._

Szayel was using his own memory patterns, just reorganizing them so that Ryuken would act merciless. Uryu picked himself back up in confidence when he understood what he needed to do. He took a moment to push up his glasses and then ran down the narrow corridor.

The very end of the passage led to a slim door placed against the far wall of the basement level. Thankfully the door wasn't locked, which was odd, as he remembered finding the door locked on most occasions. Uryu wasn't about to argue with the logic. He could sense his father trailing him on the level above him. As he slid into the room, he made sure to lock it himself. This hidden room was effectively a bunker against any attack. However, what was more important was its secondary feature. It was the storage room, where Ryuken kept all of his Quincy artifacts.

Up along the stark walls were generations worth of amassed Quincy arsenal. Piles of Seele Schneiders and Silver tubes were lined up on the shelves encompassing the room. Against the far wall was a collection of Quincy armour his father had probably inherited, though Uryu wasn't prepared to take the time to speculate. His plan had always been to eventually get here. These were all items he required if he wanted to come close to beating Ryuken.

He grabbed some of the Ginto and powered down Seele Schneiders and hid them on his person. The Seele Schnieders were tucked into his pant legs, while the silver tubes he just dropped into his pockets for convenience. In one of the cupboards was a first aid kit, which he used to treat his injuries. He pocketed some of the bandages as well in case he needed them later. Afterwards, he did a quick rearrangement of the room and prepared to leave.

"Uryu, come out of that room! Those are my belongings, or shall I add stealing to your list of offenses?" Ryuken chastised, knocking on the door. After a minute of silence, Uryu could hear the key enter the door's lock. "Let me remind you, I have a key. You are no safer in there than you are outside."

"I'd have to disagree. This is _my_ head, everything in it belongs to me." Uryu replied, while his right hand got hold of a silver tube. He backed himself into the far left corner of the room. "Second of all, while I think my personal safety is confirmed, yours is certainly up in the air."

Ryuken opened the door to find most of his Ginto lying on the floor in front of him.

"Tilt the goblet to the west - Emerald Grail! Wolke!_"_

Uryu threw the Ginto he had in his hand towards the rest. It exploded into the hallway, instantaneously followed by a much larger eruption. The walls shock as Uryu tried to stay away from the blast. The pile of Ginto blew apart the door from the entrance and threw anything left on the shelves off the walls. Once the smoke died down, Uryu could see that the entire front half of the room was scorched. However, Ryuken was gone. Uryu never expected to catch Ryuken with the explosion. He just needed some time to get out of the room.

The first step he took outside was a cautious one. The second got him shot in the stomach. Ryuken was standing on the ledge above him, the bottom half of his suit now marked with black or torn. He aimed another shot at Uryu's head. He dodged, inadventantly backing into a corner. Ryuken jumped down, his bow still targeting Uryu's face.

"It was interesting of you to use _my_ silver tubes. You were being quite the cautious one." Ryuken remarked.

"Are you calling me a coward?"

"Precisely."

Uryu couldn't help but grin. He knew what coming next. He slid under the barrage of arrows that came at him. Lying on his back he quickly leaned up and launched three arrows. The first two targeted Ryuken's legs, while the third went for his stomach. Despite Ryuken's instant retreat, they all hit. His blood splattered onto ground. Ryuken staggered, then fled.

_That's one theory proved. _They had had approximately the same conversation once before, triggered by the fact that he had used some Ginto. Ryuken's actions relied on general patterns, quick causal relationships. When Uryu went to attack Szayel, Ryuken's response was to prevent him. Yet, when Uryu had experienced a situation very similar to the one they were in, Ryuken switched to a repeat of that memory. The last time Uryu used Wolke and ended up cornered was before he reacquired his Quincy powers. As long as Uryu remembered what came next after Ryuken's comment, Ryuken would respond with what had come next.

Honestly, fighting with the illusion of his father wasn't too different from the real thing. The shots were harder and quicker, but it was nothing Uryu couldn't adjust to with a bit of time. Unfortunately, he didn't have much of that left. Uryu found his left hand tightly gripping his stomach. He pulled off his hand, revealing red underside. His abdomen was bleeding where Ryuken's arrow had hit. He got up and wrapped the wound with a bandage. Then, Uryu used his hirenkyaku to get to the next floor.

Again, Ryuken was nowhere to be seen. Uryu tried sensing for reiatsu, but found nothing. He wasn't sure if that would work anyway. How could imaginary objects have spirit energy? Ryuken would logically keep his hidden anyway, though he couldn't sense Szayel's either.

"Ryuken, you called _me_ a coward. Look who's hiding now!" Uryu yelled, with the hope of provoking another memory. Uryu felt the tinge of success when he heard footsteps coming from behind him.

"I was never hi-" Ryuken's appearance was interrupted by Uryu's Seele Schnieder, this time ready to attack his father head on.

He swung it forward. Ryuken jumped back. Uryu charged the blade then fired it at Ryuken. His father managed to avoid the shot, running behind Uryu once again. Uryu blocked the attack with another Seele Schneider. He could hear the roaring of their blades running against each other, the revving noise it made as it collected spirit particles. Sparks erupted from their contact with each other. These weapons weren't made to be used against each other, Uryu thought as neither of them gained any traction.

Ryuken leaned to another angle, his face sweating, and kicked Uryu as far back as he could. Uryu was tossed on to the ground. He quickly pulled himself up, but not in time to avoid a slash across his back. Uryu cried out in pain, spinning around nonetheless, grabbing Ryuken by the arm. He raised his Seele Schneider and proceeded to cut his father's arm off at the elbow.

The arm flopped to the ground, then evaporated slowly.

Uryu dropped his weapon. Ryuken backed off and tried to compose himself. Uryu watched his father light a cigarette with his left hand while his right arm bled. He made the awkward grin Uryu had seen the impression of his father make earlier. Uryu watched his hands shake. He felt his body take slow steps backwards, right into a set of hands. They latched onto his shoulders and held tight.

"Bueno trabajo, Uryu. No, really, congratulations, you deserve it," Szayel said aloud.

"S-shut up." Uryu shivered.

"Look at your father. See how he's trying to do something impossible right now?" Szayel said, pointing to the twitching figure ahead. "It's because you've done something _your mindless brain_ thought was impossible. It doesn't know what to do. You assumed your father could be injured, so it was possible. However, did you ever imagine being responsible for cutting off your father's arm?"

"Shut up."

"I didn't think so. Now, remember this was a fight to the death. You've almost won, just the little detail of finishing him off. He's going to attack you again eventually. That's all you'll let him do. Or do you think you can just keep cutting off limbs and hope that he stops?"

"I said shut the hell up!" Uryu kicked back at Szayel. The arrancar let go before his foot could get close. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a swing of a Seele Schneider came lurching towards him. He moved out of the way and caught his impassive father go for a second attack. It was pathetic. Uryu dodged it easily.

"Uryu, you promised me. You would train until I said you were ready. So why have you stopped fighting. Perhaps, you underestimate me? Such a fool." Ryuken picked up his arm from the floor and placed it where it had been cut off, wrapping a bandage around the injury. He closed his eyes. A blue aura grew from the skin of his severed arm and spread to Ryuken's head.

_He's using Ransotengai._ Uryu observed in amazement asthousands of blue threads drew in from the environment onto Ryuken's arm which then connected back to his brain. The hand spread its fingers to confirm the ability worked, then summoned Ryuken's metallic bow. Ryuken looked at Uryu. He shot three arrows at his son. They were well targeted, but their power was weaker than usual. _This is my mind self-correcting then? _Uryu jumped out of their way.

_You aren't my father. Ryuken is not here. This is literally all in my head. _Uryu calmed himself. Two breaths in and out were all he needed. He summoned Lone Sparrow on a Silver Cliff and targeted the imposter's face. _I never want to see you again. _

"Licht Regen." He made sure to follow Ryuken's advice, concentrating so that each arrow was the same strength. Once launched, the arrows cut through the illusion like a dart through paper. A second later, the gruesome remains evaporated into the depths of his memory. Uryu hoped that the scene wouldn't come back to him any time soon.

"Szayel, I've passed your second test. Let's finish our battle."

"Oh, don't be silly. In your condition you couldn't harm a figment of your imagination." Szayel chuckled, appearing ten feet ahead of Uryu.

"It's funny. I find that if I ignore my injuries, they just seem to disappear. Or, if I want a door to be unlocked it is." Uryu laughed in response. Szayel kept his grin, though he started to appear a little nervous. "So, Szayel, if I concentrate on you, something that has no business being here, disappearing, what do you think will happen?"

Szayel's grin faded. He looked at Uryu with contempt. "You can't Uryu. I am the only thing keeping us both here. We will leave only when I say so. "

Uryu shrugged. "We'll find out who's right in a second. Buenas noches y buenos días, Szayel." Uryu closed his eyes and concentrated on a world without Szayel Aporro Granz.

When he opened his eyes, the world was black with no actual environment to speak of, just a compilation of Uryu's thoughts and memories. There was a brief flash of his first conflict with Ichigo, and one of a day with his grandfather. Afterwards, there were the good days with his father. The ones they had spent not arguing, not fighting, but silent for a change. Then came the morbid chaos of the imposter's corpse, before it vanished.

_Wake up. I need to wake up, I can't stay here forever. _He tried to close his eyes again. _Wake up in the real world this time. _

"Buenos dias, little Quincy." Szayel greeted him with a brush of his hair. "You passed my test gloriously."

"What?" Uryu awoke with his arms and legs strapped to a large piece of metal attached to the wall. Right away, he felt all the blood rush to his feet. Using the little chance he had, Uryu surveyed his location. He was in some kind of laboratory. Pipes covered the walls going in almost random directions. Oddly assembled computers sat at the edge of the far tables connected to several other bizarre machines, a tank of water, and finally the piece of metal holding him up. What Uryu's eyes go wide was what lay in the centre of the room. There was a large vat, above which hung from their knees an arrancar with long blond hair, an almost albino looking Ichigo and a heavily disfigured girl. "Szayel, you monster, what is all this? What have you done to them?"

"Shh! Shh!" Szayel screeched at him. "The experiments don't get to talk."

Uryu was about to make an objection when Enire walked in from the other end of the room. His mask covered his face as usual, likely hiding some malevolent smirk. "Not much of a fighter now, are you?"

Uryu struggled at the plastic straps keeping him held to the wall. When that didn't work, he leaned back and then spit on Enire's mask. Enire exploded with rage.

"I'll kill you for that!" Enire dissipated his hand and reformed it around Uryu's throat. "Keep fighting, when you die I'll feel that much better." He snarled, his voice making its unnatural echo.

"Enire Vapore, don't touch my specimen you piece of trash!" Szayel grabbed the front part of Enire's mask and pulled it towards him. "You know what I can do you. I'm a little hurt and more than a little hungry. Now get out. That includes your hand."

Enire completely dissipated, hand and all, a breeze leading him out of the room. Szayel shrugged him off.

"Picking up before I was rudely interrupted, you are a perfect test specimen. The best Quincy I've encountered, which isn't saying much, I admit, but you will certainly do the job."

"What do you monsters want with Quincies? Why do insane people have to torment my family, and now my fri-" Szayel put a gloved finger on Uryu's lips, then took a piece of tape and placed it over his mouth.

"Much better. I should have thought of that ages ago." Szayel said to himself. "Now to answer your question what I want is a new hollow. The aim is to create a new arrancar out of you, but let's not get ahead of ourselves."

Uryu looked at Szayel with disgust. The idea that Uryu would become a hollow, the creatures he fought, was a horrifying vision. He made sure to show the contempt on his face. This monster had breached the privacy of his own mind and now was trying to turn him into one of _them. _It was all too much for him to bare. He refused to lose his dignity more than he already had. He didn't struggle, only glaring at the arrancar. He had had one victory today. If he waited for the right opportunity there was always the chance that he'd have another. He had no idea what was outside of this room, however, he was certain that it couldn't be as bad as being treated as Szayel's pet.

Szayel retreated into another part of the room, carefully eying Uryu as he moved. He took a few notes on the computer on the far end, occasionally leaning over to check some readings. Sometime later, he got up went to the three bodies hanging above the centre vat. He took a sample of each of them and entered them into the vat beneath them. While Uryu couldn't see, there must have been some kind of response as Szayel nodded and then walked back to his notes.

"If you're thinking of escaping, don't waste the effort again. To begin the transformation into a hollow, I'm going to have to kill you first. And believe me, I will kill you," Szayel said. It wasn't that Uryu had forgotten about that particular requirement to become a hollow, simply placed out of mind for now. The thought could linger with him later. For now, it was a distraction from getting him out of there.

In moment of anticipation, Szayel stood up and walked to the exit. "Little Quincy, don't go anywhere." He said disdainfully, before cheerfully strutting out. "I dare say that you've inspired me a few more tests to run before I'm through with you. This is just too interesting to reach the end so soon!"

Uryu waited for Szayel to leave and sighed. In spite of all his own reassurance, being strapped to a wall and promised to be turned into a hollow, he wasn't sure he'd be alive at the end of his adventure. For a second, he wondered where Ryuken was. Most likely, he was at work, indifferent to the whole thing. There probably wasn't a thought on his mind about him.

_I severed his arm. It was there on the ground, and I was the one who cut it off. _

Uryu concentrated on something else, escape, whatever he could to shake the memory away. It was going to be a while before he recovered from that moment.

_Damn that Szayel. And damn my father too. _

_

* * *

_On Thursday morning, Kisuke Urahara was relieved to find the week had gone exactly as planned. He was in the training arena beneath his shop with Tessai, standing happily as he waited for his guests to arrive. Behind him was the Garganta, a massive rip in the fabric of the universe that sent you right into Hueco Mundo.

What made this Thursday possible was a series of carefully timed coincidences and circumstances. Isshin had arrived at just the right time to give him three days to have things prepared. And those three days had gone flawlessly.

Kisuke's goal had been two fold, though activating the portal to Hueco Mundo was only a means to an end. In actuality, he could get the gateway working in a given an hour or so to prepare, it was no major feat. What he wanted was Isshin, Chad and Ryuken to set off for Hueco Mundo and save their friends and family. He knew the trip was going to require the three of them, especially given Chad's and Isshin's limitations. Chad was visibly weaker than the rest, and despite Isshin's recent recovery, he still wasn't up to full power yet. Ryuken would probably the strongest one among them, at least until Isshin's powers came back. That would be any day now, but Isshin wasn't one to wait.

Isshin and Chad had been easy enough to recruit. They were the ones who had come to him first. As long as Kisuke told Isshin that he would assist him get into Hueco Mundo, Isshin would show up, even if it was out of obligation. Chad was even less work. Come back Thursday was all that needed to be said to gain Yasutora's trust. Ryuken was the variable in this arrangement. Kisuke thought he could provoke Ryuken into coming in eventually; however, the sooner the better.

His plan was to shock Ryuken into coming. Tuesday morning, he had his package ready to hand to Ryuken personally. He had used his various sources to try and find Ryuken in his office. When he had discovered that Ryuken had passed out and was going to have to come home by bus, Kisuke had had a devious idea. In that afternoon he had had a meeting to attend, one which wouldn't allow him to wear his usual, comfortable outfit. So Kisuke put on his only western suit and a sulky face, and met Ryuken on the bus ride home. The entire point was to make everything feel out of the ordinary. He would be in different clothes and acting differently in the midst of doing something both of them normally wouldn't do in the first place: taking the bus. Kisuke laughed the instant he got off at his stop.

Kisuke assumed that would make Ryuken want to open the envelope. The absurdity of the circumstance weighed too heavily for anyone to ignore it. The question was whether that was enough to make Ryuken react. Kisuke had known about that Nadia girl a year before she even came to Japan, and it wasn't hard to get a copy of the official police records after the event. The Quincy girl had made such a mess of things, the police had a taskforce trying to figure out what happened for another year afterward. Of course, nothing came of it.

Ryuken's ailment had also been a lucky coincidence, as after Kisuke had left the bus he was ready to enter the nearby sweet shop for a meeting with royalty. Kisuke had been pining to gain some kind of connection to the Spirit King, no matter how small. Orihime Inoue's inadvertent screwballing with time was his chance. Given a couple adjustments with the story, he had sent out word of his discovery through some encrypted channels.

The royalty of Soul Society didn't take an interest in normal conflicts, particularly if they could be resolved by mortal hand. However, it was reality defying situations like these in which they interfered. The same night that Uryu and Ichigo had vanished he received confirmation that a representative from the Royal Guard would meet with him so that they could discuss how to reverse the effects. After all the trouble Kisuke went to get an accurate prediction of the future, this was certainly a just reward. The only unfortunate part was that the representative requested he appear in western garments. Despite the antiquity and reverence the royalty had, Kisuke had found their attempts to modernize hilarious.

The meeting had been short. A woman with long black hair, wearing a carefully tailored black suit with a pencil neck skirt had arrived outside the sweet shop a few seconds after him. The woman didn't say anything. She had walked up to him, had nodded and had given him a grey metallic briefcase she had been carrying with her. As she went to leave, the woman had tucked a note into Kisuke's blazer pocket, and then had walked away without looking back. Kisuke watched her go in the corner of his eye. She was beautiful and familiar in some aspects, like her hair or her eyes. He thought about it, but even now he couldn't place from where. He didn't have a chance to get a good look at her. She had disappeared by the end of the street.

Kisuke wasn't surprised at the representative's coldness. The sovereigns and the Royal Guard were only allowed to go into the real world for a few minutes at a time, if ever, so anything they did would require efficiency. The King himself would never set foot on the real world. His spiritual pressure alone would kill too many people.

Opening the briefcase had been the absolute highlight of the week. He had waited until he had entered the training arena beneath his shop to open it, but not a second longer. The instant he had locked the doors, he threw it on the ground and unlocked it. The contents were momentarily confusing. However he quickly realized that he had almost everything necessary to reset things back to the way they were, with a couple minute changes. The only _thing_ he was missing was a power source. Regrettably, the only compatible one he could think of was the Hogyoku. With its ability to dissolve the boundaries in reality, it would be a perfect match.

But that was why he had Isshin and the others. If they could successfully break into Las Noches, it wouldn't be too difficult to find the Hogyoku afterwards.

Kisuke's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming down the ladder to the training ground. He checked their reiastu. The determined spirit energy confirmed it; his first traveller for the day would be Chad.

"Good morning, Mr. Urahara." Chad said once he reached the bottom. He appeared wearing a pair of cargo pants and a black shirt, as if this was a class field trip. Chad wasn't much for sentimentality. "Ururu told me to come here."

"Good to see you, Chad. Are you ready to go?" Kisuke asked, pointing to the rips the air ahead of Chad with his cane. The gate literally tore across the landscape behind Kisuke. The sight of it would intimidate most human beings. It only revealed darkness

"Will that take me to Hueco Mundo?" Chad said, not skipping a beat.

"Absolutely," Kisuke nodded. "Just step right through and you'll be there in a few minutes. I've set it to land you right outside Aizen's fortress."

Chad took another look at it. Kisuke watched as Chad's eyes tried to look for something in the gate. Kisuke didn't know what, but he assumed it was for some kind of sign of his friends' safety and perhaps his own. Chad would very likely get killed if he wasn't careful or lucky. And to die in Hueco Mundo usually meant he would end up a hollow before long.

"I think I'll be going now." Chad said finally. It wasn't much of goodbye, but Kisuke didn't mind given the situation. Chad looked too worried to think about much else. The man was a silent giant but not an emotionless one. He walked up to the gate, gave it a final sullen look and hopped through. Urahara waved goodbye. Chad looked back for a moment and said, "Thank you, Mr. Urahara."

_That's one down, two to go. _

At seven thirty, Isshin Kurosaki arrived as a Shinigami. He seemed comfortable again in his black gi; however as he walked down the ladder, Kisuke noticed that he appeared heavier for some reason. He was carrying something in his gi, but Urahara wasn't going to bother guessing what Isshin kept in there.

"Hey, Isshin, what can I do for you?" Kisuke chirped as Isshin approached him from across the facility.

"You can get me into Aizen's dream house ASAP." Isshin replied. Kisuke laughed.

"You sound awfully chipper this morning."

"I'm here to rescue my son and his friends; my job isn't to have any fun. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't see any other choice." Isshin grumbled. He looked away from Kisuke and took a breath. Then he exploded. "And I had to lie to my two loving daughters before they would let me leave! They think I'm going on a business trip. My two precious girls are going to be left alone for days because they don't have their father to protect them! What am I supposed to do, Kisuke, be happy about that?"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Kisuke said, his voice followed by a large whack. Tessai grumbled when he noticed, Urahara had tried to reassure Isshin by slapping him with his cane. Isshin recovered. "I'm sure they'll be just fine." Isshin crossed his arms and pouted. Kisuke just laughed again. "Did you leave your body with Jinta and Ururu like I asked?"

"Yeah. I hope they're not using it for catch or something"

"I can't guarantee that they won't. You know kids. " _You know, they're probably doing that right now._ He could imagine Jinta starting a whole baseball league with the people around the shop before Kisuke got back up there.

"Yeah, I do. What did you tell Chad?" Isshin asked. His eyes watched Kisuke for the truthful response. Kisuke recoiled back.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Don't play with me. Chad is the type of kid who would risk his life for a chance to save his friends. He had to have come to you," Isshin insisted.

"You got me again, Isshin." Kisuke smiled innocently. "He came by yesterday, but I told him that it would be suicide."

"Did he listen to you?"

"Well he's not here now is he?" Kisuke spread his arms out to show he had nothing to hide, though he still sensed Isshin checked the reiatsu in the room.

Isshin grunted. "Guess not. Keep it that way, Kisuke. He's a good kid, he doesn't need to get hurt unnecessarily." Isshin wandered past Kisuke, his sheathed sword dangling idly from his waist, and gazed at Garganta as Chad had done.

There was a long pause. Isshin looked around the training ground and tried to sense reiatsu again. They both knew what Isshin was thinking about.

"So, Ryuken's not coming then?" Isshin asked.

"I don't think so. Looks like it's only going to be you in there," Kisuke gave him a sympathetic look, but Isshin just waved it off.

"I'm better off by myself. Besides, it'll give the kids a heart attack if we ended up revealing ourselves all at once." Isshin stepped back and readied himself for entry. He started by stretching out his back and legs.

Kisuke nodded. "You're going to have to find some help if you want to fight Aizen."

"If all goes according to plan I'll have them out before Aizen even notices," Isshin replied, progressing to jumping jacks.

"Somehow I doubt that."

Isshin continued with his routine, quickly moving from jumping jacks to sit-ups and leg raises. Finally he finished with a minute long shadow boxing session that seemed almost completely unnecessary. Even Tessai raised an eyebrow. Kisuke didn't bother to interrupt him. Though the exercises probably wouldn't affect anything, Isshin looked almost happy for the first time since he entered.

With a final puff, Isshin looked ready to go. He smiled and gave Kisuke and Tessai thumbs up.

"I'll see you later, Urahara." Isshin said, right before jumping into the Ganganta.

Kisuke could have sworn that he heard loud cursing come from the gate a couple seconds later. He ignored it. It probably had nothing to do with him.

_That's everyone except…._

"Mr. Ishida, you can come out now. They're gone." Kisuke yawned. This early morning was beginning to tax him a little. "Did you think I don't have monitors in my own tunnel system?"

Initially, there was no response. Kisuke snapped his fingers. A quiet rumbling noise came from the east wall, directly opposite to him. He turned around to see some rocks crumble onto the floor, revealing a battered Ryuken Ishida.

"Are your clothes lined with soul synthesized silver?" Kisuke asked. Ryuken frowned. His white suit was covered in dust and dirt caused by debris in the tunnel walls. It wasn't obvious; yet Kisuke could tell by the way that Ryuken moved he was wearing something extra. "My sensors couldn't collect any data about your reiatsu."

"Why would I do something unnecessary like that?" Ryuken scowled, none too happy about being uncovered.

"Whatever you say," Kisuke quipped and raised his hands in disagreement. "Are you planning to go along with the rest of them?"

"No. I still don't see why I should get involved." Ryuken brushed off the mud and soil from his coat as best he could. When he found that it was a futile effort, he strolled off towards Kisuke.

"Even after Nadia?"

"Especially after Nadia," Ryuken retorted, flash stepping a foot away from Kisuke. Ryuken glared at him, studying him. Kisuke could almost hear him think: _How could this idiot have known? _ "You seem to know a lot about her. If you had paid attention you'd realize things only became worse once I involved myself."

"Then why are you here, Ryuken?"

Ryuken didn't say anything. He moved to the side and pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. After a few puffs he settled down. "It's irresponsible. You have should have told me immediately that this was going to happen."

"I really didn't know. I'm not some fortune teller who can pump these things out." Kisuke lied. "Hey, if I knew, I would've warned you."

In truth, if the war progressed like it should, a few months down this was an eventuality. Still, Kisuke wasn't going to say that. He didn't need Ryuken inquiring into how he knew about these events. Ryuken made an annoyed expression in return.

"You know, you didn't answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"Don't get your hopes up. I'm not going to Hueco Mundo." Ryuken reiterated. He let out another breath of smoke before heading towards the ladder.

"I don't know, I'm feeling pretty hopeful right now," Urahara said. "Tessai, if you please."

Tessai put his fingers together and summoned a glowing yellow box around Ryuken. When it solidified, Tessai forced it into the air, carrying Ryuken inside it. Ryuken looked startled and began to look for modes of escape. Kisuke knew that Tessai wouldn't allow for any.

Tessai stared at Garganta, then looked back at his kido box. Kisuke had told Tessai to prepare some of his strongest kido in case Ryuken showed up unceremoniously. Ryuken was already shooting arrows at the dazzling walls, though they simply dissolved into the walls. He paused to study the trap, see any weaknesses in the Kido. Tessai didn't give him the time. With one shove of his hands the box went flying into Hueco Mundo, only beginning to scatter once Ryuken was beyond Tessai's reach.

Kisuke watched the scene in satisfaction. Towards the end, Ryuken had resorted to screaming at him. Kisuke didn't hear a thing. He asked Tessai to make the box soundproof beforehand. He didn't like hearing too many unattractive words.

With his morning's work done, Urahara slapped his hands together and pranced back to his shop. As they left, Tessai gave Kisuke a nervous look but kept quiet the whole time. Kisuke disregarded it. Things were too good for him to complain now. When they reached the hatch to the outside world, Tessai went out first before offering a hand to Urahara. Kisuke grabbed it and let Tessai heave him out.

"Kisuke, was that really necessary?" Tessai said, finally, putting Kisuke on the ground.

"I'm sure he'll thank me later." Kisuke replied. He kicked the hatch door shut behind him and went inside. This had been an even better week than he had planned.

* * *

Szayel left his laboratory in pride. He had found the canvas to a potential masterpiece. The specimen was mentally in top form. It took him mere minutes to comprehend his environment. In a fight he could create counter attacks while under assault. Then, in close combat he had the proper instinct to handle his own. In short, his intelligence was high for a human being. For Szayel that meant piss poor, but intelligence was nothing that couldn't be augmented later. However, it would have all been for naught had he not been able to shoot his father down.

The situation had been set prior to the match. Should the boy gain the upper hand in the battle with his father, Szayel would influence Ryuken to linger so that Uryu would achieve a near fatal attack on his father. Afterwards it was up to him. Kill the enemy or leave him to die, it had been his choice. Sure, Szayel had bent the rules a little. Using the little influence he had over the dream world, he had forced Uryu's unconscious to produce a soul crushingly determined fighter. It didn't matter, as Uryu had managed to kill him all the same. Being able to murder your relatives was important for a hollow. You never truly achieved full power until you had killed those closest to you. It was just how things worked. If Uryu had been incapable of doing that in his head, he certainly wouldn't be capable in real life.

The future was looking good for Szayel. He was on his way to the throne room to meet with his lord, Aizen about his specimen's progress, and he certainly wasn't going to downplay his anticipation. If he succeeded with this task, there was always the chance of promotion, an increase in rank. And a higher rank meant greater respect and access to resources. His laboratory would be forever thriving if he could enter the top six. Plus, the way things were looking, Szayel almost considered training the newborn personally. Usually Szayel hated children, yet if the Quincy could be tamed into a subservient hollow, Szayel could see himself growing to like the little monster.

He was getting ahead of himself. The boy still had to pass the physical examinations first, and even then there wasn't a hundred percent chance he would survive the transformation into a hollow or an arrancar. Both were feasible, but really neither was likely for a Quincy. Quincies were untested. Szayel had never heard of a Quincy hollow or arrancar. He supposed they were all the stupid heroic types, who killed themselves permanently before they could be turned. The boy didn't seem like the type though. No, the child had proven that he'd do whatever it took to survive, even if it meant becoming a hollow.

Szayel entered the throne room, only to see a gathering of all the other members of the Espada already there. Szayel frowned. This was supposed to be a private meeting. Tosen and Gin were there also, but that was a given. What were _they_ all doing there? The second he saw Aizen move forward, he fell to one knee and bowed.

"My lord, you called for me." Szayel said immediately.

"Octava Espada, there's no need for formalities. Please stand amongst your comrades." Lord Aizen said, walking over to hold out his hand. Szayel grabbed it and felt relieved when Aizen helped him up. "You looked displeased when you entered. Is there something wrong?"

The other Espada stared at him, though Grimmjow appeared disinterested as usual, and the top 3 kept to themselves.

"There's no reason, my lord. I was only surprised to see the rest of the Espada in this room." He admitted. There was no point hiding anything from Aizen. He would find out. He always did.

"Oh? Why would you be surprised? Your job is an important one. All of us are interested to see in how your progress with the young Quincy is coming. When should I be expecting the new addition to our ranks?" Aizen asked his tone benevolent yet somehow horribly intimidating. This wasn't a progress report handed personally to his Lord. The Espada was checking up on him, spying on his work. He tried to signal Nnoitra with eyes. Nnoitra did nothing. Unintelligent dunce, Szayel had helped him become the 5th Espada, and he still didn't give Szayel a blink.

_Hold on, did he say addition to _our _ranks? Surely, he's not expecting an Espada out of the Quincy. _Szayel wasn't told of this beforehand, but it made his situation make a lot more sense. Aizen wasn't only checking on him, he was assessing the entire Espada. There could only be ten Espada members at any given time. If that Quincy boy was supposed to become an Espada then one of them would have to be demoted or killed.

Szayel raised his head proudly. They were all in the same boat as he was.

"I still have the physical examinations to complete which will take some time. I anticipate another seven days until I'm absolutely certain of his capacity to undergo the enhanced hollowfication process, and another three until he's consumed enough menos to become an arrancar. Whether he's worthy to be an Espada will be entirely up to you, my lord." Szayel explained and looked directly at Aizen as he said it. This was his opportunity to be in the spotlight.

"Hah, so the Quincy is useless then! The invasion starts in six days, what difference will he make four days after the battle's started?" Nnoitra interjected, jeering at Szayel's analysis.

Szayel wasn't surprised. Nnoitra was the rudest of the bunch. If there was anyone to interrupt a conversation with Aizen, it would be him. Nnoitra Jiruga could act as tough as he liked, it still wouldn't hide the fact that he was the most nervous for his position. He was paranoid and sneaky, and always looking for a way to defeat those around him. It didn't matter how backhanded or unfair the scenario was, as long as he won, that's all that mattered. Those were healthy traits for a hollow. One needed to be paranoid as in most cases there _was_ something plotting your demise. Although, coupled with his unbearable personality, Szayel hardly understood how he had come to ever assist the hollow so many years back.

Aizen moved to the back of the room to sit down on his throne. He leaned forward onto his hand and glowered at Nnoitra. Nnoitra started to sweat.

"Despite the boorish interruption, the diez Espada has a point. Ten days is far too long. Octava, you'll have to shorten the time by half. Have him ready in five days," Aizen commanded. Szayel didn't understand. If the Quincy child was supposed to be a hollow in five days, that meant he only had two to three days to perform the tests. Still, he knew better than to question his lord.

"Yes, Lord Aizen. I will have the arrancar in prime shape by then." Szayel flicked his hair to the side and grinned. It was no problem to attempt to transform the boy early. There was a much greater chance he could die without achieving the proper outcome, but he supposed that red headed girl was here for. If he failed to transform, she could bring him back to life on a whim, and they could try the hollowfication again. It was a lot more blunt process than Szayel liked; however, he was a genius. He could make it work.

Nnoitra grumbled in the background. None of the other Espada paid any attention to him.

Szayel eyed the crowd. The lower ranks seemed annoyed. They were probably scared beyond death to see what he would come up with. It was nothing to worry about. Szayel made a mental note to reinforce his laboratory's defences. The only hollow who troubled him was Grimmjow, oddly enough. The arrancar who was singled-minded, crude and never paid any attention in the meetings was now staring at him as well. Yet, no fear came from him. The oversized kitty cat's eyes were focused on him and they looked incensed. Szayel could feel it from across the room. It almost made him uneasy.

Again, it wouldn't be an issue. Whatever Grimmjow was throwing a temper tantrum about, he wouldn't dare to interrupt his experiment when the potential was this high, especially when it interested his lord. He didn't want that arm cut off twice, now did he?

"I'm glad to hear that Szayel Aporro Grantz. Although, I'd like both of them active by the time of the invasion, not only your recent specimen."

Szayel didn't know how to respond to that one.

"Both of them, my lord?" He could see Nnoitra grinning already.

"Yes. I'd like the boy _and_ the girl available for combat." Aizen elaborated, raising an eyebrow. It was a small motion, but Szayel knew what it meant. _You mean you didn't anticipate this? Tsk-tsk. _Szayel stalled before coming up with an answer.

"I'm afraid the girl was essentially dead when we found her. The reason she has any response is because of my machines. Right now, she's unsuitable for your plans."

"I'm disappointed to hear that." Aizen replied. The Shinigami shifted in his throne and turned to towards the other Espada.

"Yet, if I could take charge of the healer, the Inoue girl, I could certainly revive her." Szayel added quickly. Aizen moved his attention back to Szayel.

"Excellent. I'll have Miss Inoue delivered to you immediately. Ulquiorra, please escort our guest to Szayel's research lab." Aizen said with a subtle grin. He looked at Ulquiorra, who nodded and walked out of the room, right past Szayel.

Szayel was ecstatic. He had hoped to be able to perform some experiments on the girl soon, but this was too much! Lord Aizen was trusting him with his guest. Moreover, so long as she was in Szayel's care, he could do whichever test he wanted on her and the boy. Aside from the potentially fatal ones of course, he assumed she couldn't revive herself. And now there was that time limit he had to deal with…

Aizen stood up and walked to the other end of the room. Szayel watched from the east entrance. Aizen opened the main doors with a wave of his hands and looked at his Espada expectantly.

"Let's go into the hall shall we? I expect we'll be under attack soon."


	9. Writing on the Walls

_Author's Note: Yaaaay. Chapter 9. Not going to bother apologizing for time. I'm honestly more excited that I can now work on Chapter 10. Chapter 9 took me a while because it wasn't Chapter 10 if that makes sense. It'll be more comprehensible once you read this chapter and the next one. Again, I'd like to thank all of the reviewers. There are like five of you, but whatever. I enjoy your support and it helps me get the motivation to write the next one. Another yaaay for a short author's note. _

**TL;DR Here's Chapter Nine. Enjoy. **

**Chapter 9: Writing on the Walls**

Ryuken dropped out of the sky of Hueco Mundo like a rock. His eyes, closed until that moment of weightlessness, opened up again, only to show him that he was going to die. He heard himself curse.

The wind ripped and roared as he plummeted down and down and down, until the ground was only a kilometre away. For the land of the hollows it looked more pleasant than he had expected; endless sand, like an eroded ocean. Though, it was going to kill him regardless of how it looked. He tried to buffer his fall with his reiatsu, but it was no good at this speed. The wind didn't help, attacking his body as plunged down into a new world. He put more energy into his buffer until he was weak from the strain. It slowed him down just enough that he wouldn't die immediately, though the hollows that would come across his paralyzed form probably would.

He heard his own body crunch as it dived into the sand. With that, he passed out.

He awoke what felt like only a minute later, with vomit on his face and underneath his shirt, and a young girl in green torn robes spreading it over the rest of his body. His first thought was _I must be in hell. _Ryuken scrambled to his feet, instantly feeling the pain in his limbs. He staggered to clean himself off. He glanced up, hoping the girl and the vomit were a deranged hallucination, but found her still standing there and the vomit still clinging to his skin. The girl looked at him with a disappointed face.

"Lie down! I still need to put some saliva on your back!" The girl pouted, showing some of the vomit she had gathered in her hands. Ryuken felt like taking a bath for the rest of his life. When he backed off, he noticed the hollow mask above her eyes. _She's an arrancar_ he thought, alarmed.

"That's absolutely disgusting. Get away from me. I will not be some hollow's play thing!" Ryuken replied. He tried to summon his bow but the girl latched onto his legs pushing him back onto the sand. Ryuken was embarrassed by how pathetic he was. He was so weak that he could be toppled by the tiny hollow behind him. Her reiatsu was tiny compared to the waxing and waning of Hueco Mundo itself.

"When Nel found you, you were really hurt." The girl said. Ryuken tried to wrestle her off by kicking her. The girl dodged it and after a while it became more effort than it was worth. "Stop it! I was helping! You didn't even want to move before, but thanks to my saliva you're doing a lot better now."

The girl was right. He looked at himself. His body was a lot better for having recently fallen a couple kilometres. That by no means meant he was going to let this arrancar put more of whatever it was coming out of her mouth. He pushed against her and finally freed himself from her grasp. To the best of his ability he started running.

"No, come back! You's still really hurt." The arrancar yelled and chased him through the desert as he forced his body along. When he was too tired to run further, he turned around and summoned his bow. It was a feeble summoning, his bow at only half its normal strength. It would be enough to take care of the hollow.

"I don't know what your intentions are and I'd rather not find out. " Ryuken drew an arrow and aimed it at the child's forehead. She started to quiver and glower.

"Don't hurt me Mr. Sky-person! I swear I won't help you anymore!" She cried. _She's just a hollow; She's not human._ Ryuken told , she could sense his spirit energy. As he had created the arrow, she had fallen back in surprise. She was afraid of him.

"Hey, Nel, if you're going to start a game, remember to call the rest of us!" A voice boomed from far behind the girl. A hollow with a giant face, a humanoid insect and a creature that vaguely looked like a snake were darting across the desert sand to where they were standing. Ryuken increased the energy and density of his arrow.

"Who are they?" He demanded.

"They're my friends. Please don't hurt them. They helped you too! They carried you across the desert to a safe place." She pointed to them and made strange gestures as she talked.

Ryuken checked their reiatsu. It was a lot higher than the girl's but still nothing he needed to worry about. He lowered his arrow and then let it disappear all together. He saw the girl make a sigh of relief. Ryuken turned his back on her.

"Leave me alone." He said and walked off. Whoever they were, they didn't mean him harm. Still, he didn't want to be stuck with them. Las Noches had been looming over the desert since he had arrived, the building more massive than anything else he had encountered. He didn't want to go there, however there didn't seem like anywhere else he could go. He headed towards it, hoping not to see the hollow girl again.

His wish was hardly fulfilled. Every so often he would turn around to see them trailing him, all four of them now. When he did, they would jump into the sand and pretend like they hadn't been there all along. After an hour of this, Ryuken started to get tired. His body was aching too, so he stopped and waited to get close enough that he wouldn't have to yell.

"I said leave me alone! I never gave you permission to follow me." He called to them. They all looked startled, even the snake, as if their plan had been a secret. _Are these hollows really as idiotic as they appear?_ "I think I'm going to regret asking, but why are you following me?"

"We're here to save you!" They announced simultaneously all of them making a pose, like characters out of a sentai television show. Ryuken groaned. He preferred hollows he actually wanted to kill. These ones were just morons.

"I don't need saving. Now go away." Ryuken started to walk again. This time he could literally hear them coming after him. He jumped around, summoning his bow again. He created four arrows and aimed at all of them. "Who are you? What do you want with me really?"

They almost looked happy at their question. The giant face, insect and the girl looked to each other and nodded, before leaping into another pose.

"I'm Nel Tu!" The girl said cheerfully.

"And I'm her older brother, Pesshe." The insect followed up, waving his arms.

"And I'm _his_ older brother Dondochakka!" The giant head leaped in third, before they all grouped together and posed. "And together we are-"

As he heard their title, Ryuken passed out again, the words floating into his head. They were words he had never expected to hear again.

* * *

"Urahara, you asshole!" Isshin yelled, almost instantaneously after arriving in Hueco Mundo. At the end of the large stark white hallway was Yasutora Sado. Isshin covered his mouth and hid in the one of hall's side paths. Chad glanced back. Isshin ducked behind the wall.

Isshin didn't expect Urahara to tell the truth. When Urahara had said that there was no one else going he assumed that meant that he had allowed one or two people already through. But, really, of all people he allowed Sado passage. He had hoped for another Shinigami, maybe if he was lucky a Vizard. Instead Urahara let in a fighter that wouldn't be able to hold his own. Chad was strong enough to fight regular hollows, sure, but arrancars were way beyond his level. Isshin sighed. He had left his kids at home only to have to babysit another one. He couldn't just leave Chad on his own. It would be a pain in the ass if this kid died on his watch. Isshin decided against revealing himself. He'd give Chad some time to prove that he wasn't going to be a nuisance. They had only just arrived after all.

Not seeing anyone, Chad headed down the hallway. Isshin let out a breath of relief.

Urahara had dropped them in the middle of some underground building. Isshin didn't have too many assumptions of what Hueco Mundo would look like, but it was nothing like he imagined. Decades of fighting hollows taught him to think of their kind as a source of chaos. They could never construct such an elaborate structure. This had to be Aizen's doing. He put his ear to the wall and heard something rustling behind it. _Sand._

_Urahara's put us closer to Las Noches than I thought. _

Suddenly, he heard something else. It was a rumbling coming from another hallway. He peered down to Chad. He had heard it too. He was standing at the end, an intersection with another path and was waiting for the rumbling to come at him. Isshin sensed its reiatsu. He relaxed a little. The oncoming hollow was mediocre grade, not remotely close to Espada level. Isshin watched Chad, waiting to see how he responded.

Chad looked at the incoming hollow and raised his fist. Isshin felt a surge reiatsu from Chad as the spiritual energy formed around his arm. One punch was all it took.

"El Directo." Chad's spiritual pressure grew as the energy built up in his right arm. He charged forward, his fist landing in the beast's face. A second later light erupted out of the end and threw the hollow beyond Isshin's range of sight. Chad muttered something before bidding the creature farewell. The boy certainly wasn't playing around.

Isshin was impressed. A one-hit knock out was a good feat, though he would need to repeat it soon. Isshin could already feel another arrancar nearby. He assumed Chad felt it too as he went towards the reiatsu the minute it popped up. When he was sure that Chad was gone, he crept through the hall to watch the fight. The room ahead was a grand dome, where in the centre another arrancar guarded the exit. It looked almost human, if not for the extra six arms and spikes protruding from his back.

"You defeated Demora, but don't expect to travel any further. This is where your adventure ends." The arrancar croaked. He didn't wait for a response from Chad. He revealed his extra limbs for the attack, then zoomed towards Chad using Sonido. Chad didn't dodge in time and received three energy blasts. Chad tried to ready himself, raising his arm as he had done before. He still wasn't fast enough. The arrancar speeded past his lumbering form, and struck him another four times.

Isshin was about to look away when he saw the beast go in for a third time. However, the moment he came close, Chad grabbed the creature by the neck. This time he had the right reflex. He lifted the arrancar into the air, aimed for its face for another 'El Directo'. The blast tore the arrancar's mask right off his face. Chad dropped him onto the floor then kneeled close to the body.

"I'm sorry I had to rush through our fight, but I don't have the time to deal with you. I need to find my friends." Chad said. The arrancar started to laugh.

"Sorry? Your stupid pleasantries aren't going to get you into Las Noches. Aizen will have your head, if you're smart enough to survive this room." Chad and Isshin looked up at the ceiling. It was beginning to shake, the pillars trembling alongside them. Huge chunks of debris started to plunge into the ground, followed by a wave of sand. Chad tried to run for the stairs, but didn't make it in time. White sand swallowed him before he could do anything else.

Isshin saw the sand coming and ran. It followed him down the corridor, past the intersecting paths, but stopped short of catching him. His shunpo kept him moving faster than the white ocean. It pursued him through a left turn at the end of the passage, then a right turn, until he made it to another crossroads.

Once the sand settled Isshin stopped running and attempted to survey wherever he was. The sand had blocked out all the light coming from the other routes. Isshin reached into his gi and pulled out his trusty lighter. He flicked the flint wheel. Enough light came that he could see his surroundings. Two or three torches were attached to the narrow walls. Isshin picked up one and set it a flame. With the extra light he now realized how dire the situation had become. There was a wall of sand in front of the exit, the path irrevocably blocked.

He searched for Chad's reiatsu and found it hovering somewhere above him. It looked like Chad had somehow made it topside. The sand must have swept right under him, pushing him straight up to the surface. This was good news. Despite his initial concern, Chad's show of force convinced Isshin that the boy didn't need to be babied. Now, Isshin only worried if the boy had enough sense to not get lost. He didn't want Chad to be another kid he had to rescue.

_Speaking of which, where does that put me? _The hallway was pitch black beyond his torch. It was impossible to tell where it was going. It was a narrow path too, the torches only a centimetre away from Isshin's shoulders. The ground was layered with dust and now sand. Every twitch Isshin made left some kind of mark on the floor where he had moved the dirt.

Judging by the fact that his were the only footprints around, it looked like no one had used this trail in ages. Isshin could see why. It was depressing as hell. Still, Isshin didn't think he had any choice in the matter. With one hand on the hilt of his zanpakutou and another gripping the torch, Isshin moved ahead.

He continued to walk for what seemed like hours. The alley never got any brighter nor did he ever see any sign of an exit. It simply became narrower and narrower until the walls themselves were rubbing against him. His arms couldn't move apart, stuck somewhere in front or behind him. Isshin kept going. Luckily height was never an issue. The ceiling was always about two feet higher than his head.

It took longer to feel, but after another few hours had passed he could sense reiatsu lingering somewhere above him. After that it was every hour or so that he noticed that the strength of the reiatsu had increased. This made him more confident that he was delving into the heart of Aizen's fortress. Isshin assumed that he was in a forgotten tunnel, built to provide quick access between Las Noches and the exterior world of Hueco Mundo. He had nothing to confirm this. All his bets had been placed on the growing reiatsu above him.

The hours quickly grew as Isshin trudged on. With nothing to tell the time, Isshin wasn't sure how long he'd spent so far in the tunnel, but he guessed it was somewhere in the realm of three days. By now, Isshin was convinced that the path had to lead somewhere. Since the last twelve hours or so the spiritual pressure had started to increase rapidly. The alley was starting to widen again and he was even starting to hear rumbling as the tunnel slowly bent upwards. He was approaching something important. He could literally feel it.

* * *

Ryuken was standing in the room with three exits, beside Yasutora Sado, the arrancar girl, and her friends. He stuck with them, and with a decision he didn't want to make.

"Ryuhen, which doors are we taking?" The girl asked. Nel Tu was the arrancar's name, and she was as absurd as the situation he had been thrown into.

"I'm not sure yet. I'll tell you once I make up my mind." Ryuken responded, not bothering to address the horrendous mistakes in her speech. He had told her on multiple occasions to call him, Mr. Ishida or just Ishida if that made things easier. Somehow, she always returned to the butchered version of his first name. Her grammar and language generally annoyed him; however there was no point correcting her. She'd ask why, and then he'd have to explain grammar and seniority, which probably didn't mean anything to a hollow.

Sado was quiet as usual. He hadn't said much since they'd met. Despite his silence, Sado appeared to be making a decision of his own.

He walked over to a quiet side of the room to take out a cigarette and smoke. He was surprised they had survived the initial fall. He poured sand out of the packet, then pulled the cigarette to his mouth and lit it. It had been a while since he had had one, a couple days maybe. Now the compulsion was getting to him. The girl followed him with puppy dog eyes and asked again if he knew where they were going. He rebuffed by reminding her that it had only been ten seconds since she had last asked, to which she replied that he smelled when he smoked. He ignored her.

_Three exits, four people, and I have no idea what to do. I haven't been able to make a proper decision since…_ The image of Nadia's face splattered with blood came to mind. He sighed and took another breath of his cigarette.

He had wandered through Urahara's tunnel out of curiosity, though he had always known where they would lead. He didn't know why he went. He kept telling himself curiosity, but even then it didn't make sense. Regardless, Urahara had trapped him in a cage and had flung him into Hueco Mundo against his will. That much was simple.

Ryuken couldn't decide whether Urahara infuriated him more or that the arrancar and her friends (Ryuken had never bothered to memorize their names) had taken the poor choice of following him. Despite the fact that they acted like malformed children, occasionally pretended they were superheroes, and generally acted in the exact opposite manner a hollow was supposed to, they thought _Ryuken_ was strange. They thought that _he _needed taking care of. They had even offered for him to ride their giant sentient undead snake, which was disturbing more than relieving. For as long as he had been around them, Ryuken wondered how they could have survived the extreme Darwinist nature of hollow society.

Yet, it wasn't until they tried to introduce themselves that Ryuken was truly disturbed. They had tried to introduce themselves. In unison, they had screamed, of all things, _Memento Mori. _

He wouldn't say it was the latin words that made him pass out. The combination of exhaustion and being exposed to pure incompetence was where he laid the blame. Ryuken remembered it most recently as the phrase written on the case file Urahara had sent him. He had thought it was out of place then, and it was certainly out of place now. In spite of that it had subconsciously become a signal for him, a reminder of Nadia. He remembered her saying it a couple times when she was around him. She had had a morbid fascination with the dead even greater than that of his son. With that on his mind, he had let them pursue him, though he had made sure to interrogate the two oddly shaped arrancar. They had known nothing about it or Urahara, which wasn't a surprise. They didn't look like knew anything to begin with. This also had the bonus added effect of scaring the two into keeping their distance from him.

Sado, or Chad, as he had heard Uryu call him, had encountered them later on in their walk to Las Noches, and together they had made their way here, to the room with three doors. Of course, there was a fourth door now, if they counted the hole Chad had made in the wall behind them. To get inside 'covertly' Chad had taken it upon himself to punch through Las Noches' walls. It was unnecessary, but Ryuken went along with it, if only to see the boy's endurance.

Ryuken studied the different pathways. It was a perplexing design choice, to have a central room with no purpose at all. You couldn't hold a meeting here, it was too small to fight here, there were no windows or any feature about this area that would make it particularly alluring. It seemed as if it was put here as a way to confuse intruders. This thought nagged at Ryuken. They had picked a random outside wall to break into the facility. If this room was designed to split up a group breaking in, then Aizen had to have planned where they would attempt to break through, and what direction they would travel in.

At the very least it was something to consider. He never tried to stay up to date with the happenings in Soul Society, but from what he understood Aizen was revered as a master strategist. Now that he was in the strategist's own territory, he would have to make his movements carefully.

_But, where should I go? _Ryuken looked at his unintentional partners. Whichever path he chose, he had to take into account the people with him.

Nel was currently doing some kind of dance with the other two. They picked her up and spun her around, sometimes hopping from one place to another. Chad was making intermittent glances between him and the doors. While he hadn't told Chad this directly, there was enough of a physical similarity between him and Uryu that Chad should have realized that he was Uryu's father once he had said that his last name was Ishida; although, he didn't inquire why Ryuken was there. He probably believed something ridiculous.

_At this rate, I certainly can't deny him the absurd._

Ryuken quickly came to the conclusion that his 'teammates' were for the most part dead weight. The girl was useless aside from her healing vomit, which Ryuken detested anyway. Her arrancar friends, while appearing a tad more capable, were also by some glorious feat less intelligent than the girl. Chad could be of some use; however Ryuken wasn't sure of his fighting capability. Without Chad's arm activated, his reiatsu was that of an average human. The only way Ryuken could test his power was by fighting him, something he had no interest in doing.

There was always Isshin. Ryuken had seen Isshin walk into the garganta, though where he was now, Ryuken had no idea. He occasionally felt Isshin's spiritual pressure coming from beneath the ground even when he was in the desert, but he put that up to the sheer chaos of spiritual energy in Las Noches. The building had so many powerful spiritual entities that their reiatsu meshed and melded with each other, preventing him from determining one entity from another. There was also the possibility that Aizen was projecting a reiatsu similar to Isshin's to confuse Ryuken so he had tried not to think much of it.

No matter where Isshin was right now, he could take care of himself.

While he could have, he didn't ask Chad about Isshin. Ryuken had deduced that because of the way he was thrown into the portal, he was launched much further ahead than Chad or Isshin. Despite their time delay in the real world, in Hueco Mundo they should have arrived minutes of each other. If Isshin was smart he would have used that to his advantage and kept himself hidden the whole time. There was no sense in the children knowing who they were. It would only make them lazy, relying on their parents for everything.

"Dondochakka, put me down! You're starting to make me sick!" Nel screamed, interrupting Ryuken's thoughts. The arrancar that consisted of a giant face was spinning rapidly now, going faster and faster as Nel's shrieks increased. The anthropomorphic insect was for some reason helping Dondochakka spin around at greater speed.

Ryuken walked over to put a stop to this. "Control yourselves and put her down. You're clearly scaring her and her voice is getting on my nerves." He commanded. Dondochakka obliged a little too quickly. He let go of Nel, launching her to the other end of the room. She flew into a wall between two exits with a loud smash. Suddenly her reiatsu spiked. It only lasted a second, just the instant her head made a thundering noise against the wall. However, it was frighteningly powerful. He looked over to Chad. He was watching the hollow girl too.

Nel seemed unaware of what had happened, beyond smacking her head into a wall. She lay on the floor. Her eyes were dazed from the impact. Ryuken knelt beside her and tried to check for any abnormalities.

"You felt that too?" Chad asked.

"You're referring to her spiritual pressure increasing forty-fold? Of course I did. I'm trying to understand what happened." Ryuken replied curtly. He put his head on her head and concentrated on her energy. After a couple seconds he found no sign of the energy he had felt a minute prior. He glared at the other two hollow. "You two, what do you know about this?"

"We don't know anything! I'm kinda scared, yo. Our Nel is a lot stronger than she said she was." Dondochakka yelled. He did genuinely look afraid, _but of what?_

"No, that's our Nel. I knew she had it in her all along. She's the super strong member of our superhero team!" The insect raised a fist above his head and shook it in approval.

"She was at least quadruple the strength of both of you combined. It sounds farfetched that you could miss that."

The two arrancar shrugged. In retaliation, Ryuken stood up and headed towards the nearest exit.

"I'm tired of all this pandering. All three of you are embarrassment as hollows and worse, now you're playing with me. My day had been painful enough as it is, I don't need complications." Ryuken declared, walking straight into hallway. He felt mentally exhausted. He had been tossed from one scenario to another. First was Nadia, then being forced here and now this stupid mystery. He really didn't need this. His life had enough complications as it was.

As he set off, Ryuken felt a tugging at his leg. He looked behind him. Nel was hanging on by his pants.

"Stop following me!" Ryuken yelled, a little too loudly. Nel shrunk back and let go of him.

"We has to follow you. Aizen will kill us if you leave us behind!" She exclaimed. "Plus, Dondochakka, Pesshe and me will be a great help. I have my spit and they can be your mascots. "

Ryuken could sense Pesshe and Dondochakka doing poses somewhere in the room.

"You'll be useless. You'll die just the same if you follow me." Nel was silent for a change. He looked back into the three way room. Everyone was looking at him. He started walking. "Sado, if you're going to stand still like that, watch these three until I come back."

"Actually, I want to go-" Chad started.

"Then go."

Chad ran to an exit, leaving the others behind. Nel reached out and ran after him, but tripped and fell with another smash. The other two arrancars leapt to her aide. Ryuken used the opportunity to leave unnoticed.

Like Chad, he ran. He didn't stop, even when he heard crying coming from the beginning of the hall. In any situation it was better that they all stayed behind. It was true what he said. If they came with him, they would be useless on the battlefield. They would probably be fine if they left Las Noches. Aizen wouldn't bother finding them. Even with the energy jump, they were still too weak to pose a serious threat. Though, he had been wrong in the past.

Somehow there was wind in the hall. Wind that followed him and blew at him as he tried to move forward. It wasn't enough to stop him. It was another tedious challenge put in front of him. Challenges he didn't want or need. As if knowing his annoyance the wind fought against him, blowing at his chest and his face. Ryuken cursed back at it.

Being literally tossed into Hueco Mundo had not made him any more inclined to save his son, although he hadn't seen much choice in the matter. He was already here; he had might as well do something. Urahara wouldn't let him go home either. Ryuken scoffed. He doubted Urahara had actually made an exit strategy. The senile moron's plan was to jump into Hueco Mundo when he thought the job was done and then pull everyone back.

And the chances that would go successfully?

Zero. An Urahara plan was never much of a plan at all. Ryuken resigned himself to this quest. He would find an exit, a way back to normalcy.

The Nadia file was a clear provocation on Urahara's part. Why would Aizen need a new arrancar this late in preparations? Soul Society was planning on attacking any day now. If he was as smart as they said, he would try to encourage a rescue effort as a distraction, not to gain anything innately.

Uryu would be fine. Comparatively. Hopefully his time spent here wouldn't give him too much trauma.

The passageway was a short one. Ryuken found himself approaching another room only fifteen minutes later. It looked to be much larger than the one he was in before. Ryuken slowed down when he saw someone standing there, far into the back of the room. It wore the uniform, or at least the styling, of Aizen's hollows. Its modifications to the outfit were outlandish. Even from within the hallway he could see a circular and oddly flat hood outlining the hollow's head.

Ryuken made careful stunted steps forward. From a distance the hollow looked abnormally tall, an appearance which didn't change as he came closer. He (it was beginning to look distinctly male) had long hair and a patch over his left eye. His reiatsu was immense. Once he got closer he could see another arrancar, lingering beside the one had seen first. He also wore an eye-patch, though over the opposite eye. Aside from that, short blond hair was all Ryuken could see.

"You shouldn't walk so fucking slowly into a fight, especially if the enemy can see you coming." The arrancar with an eye-patch over his left eye barked. "You always got to start running."

Ryuken walked unfazed into the room.

"That sounds like an easy was to get yourself killed." Ryuken replied, using a finger to push up the glasses to the bridge of his nose. Then he pointed to the body the arrancar was stomping on with his right foot. The body looked like another arrancar, with its limbs torn off and scattered around the room. He was still bleeding. Ryuken couldn't help but notice his head and its huge orange hair. "It looks like someone already made that mistake."

"You guys took too long getting here, so I got kinda bored. I was thinking of just killing you all from that dumbass room, but he took up too much of my time." The hollow said, grinning. The creature had been smiling from the moment he had walked into the large white chamber. The walls were tall and far apart. The open space between them was at least 200 meters. It was a room designed for fighting in.

_Perfect._

"I really don't fucking like the look in your eyes. I bet you think you're better than me." The creature said, grabbing a strange sword from behind him. It was composed two blades in the shape of crescent moons, bending horizontally away from each other. "We've seen each other for a couple seconds and I already really want to rip your eyes out of your skull."

"That sounds a little too morbid for my taste. It's too bad I don't have the time to kill you." Ryuken replied and summoned his bow to his hand. "However, I'll make sure that you won't have the opportunity to do the same."

The arrancar stopped smiling and charged at him.

The battle was over in a few minutes, with Ryuken walking out mostly unscathed. The room had taken most of the damage, especially after he had blown out the roof. It seems that Aizen made sure that the roofs of some of his rooms would collapse in the case of emergencies. This had made it an easier match to settle than he had expected. A few key shots had dropped the ceiling and most of the back wall on the creature. His partner was still trying to dig him out from underneath the rubble.

It was only unfortunate he was going to have to do it again.

* * *

_Drip._

_Water! I'm finally close to a damn exit to this hell trail._ Isshin pushed his torch forward and tried to get a glance at what he was hearing.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. _

He started running. After three days of near silence, listening to the disturbing rumble of Hueco Mundo's stomach above him, he had arrived somewhere. He waved the torch about wildly until he saw what was making the dripping noise.

The body of a tall humanoid arrancar had been nailed to the roof, its body bleeding slowly onto the floor. The body was disfigured, chunks of flesh missing and its mask forcefully ripped off the creature's face. A small puddle had formed beneath the body. Surprisingly enough, the hollow wasn't dead, or not completely anyway. Isshin could hear it whimpering. He had to put his ear close to the thing's mouth in order to hear it, but it was obvious once he did. Isshin did the merciful thing and cut off its head. It plopped onto the ground before being purified into dust. The rest of the body followed suit soon after.

Isshin took the experience as a sign that he was close to another entrance. The hollow couldn't have been there more than a couple hours. Of course, it also meant that there was a third hollow there with him, a hollow which liked to eat its victims slowly. Isshin couldn't sense its spiritual energy, which either implied that the beast was hiding it or was being overshadowed by the ones above ground. Regardless how it was doing it, chances were that it was up ahead.

Within the next half hour, he noticed a light emanating from what Isshin hoped was the end. Once more he ran for it. It never seemed to come any closer, so he used shunpo to push himself forward. The torch quickly blew itself out from his speed, so Isshin dropped it on the ground. The sound of it smashing onto the floor echoed throughout the tunnel. He laughed, but made a misstep, crashing into what like felt like a third wall.

He looked up to see the light ahead gone, replaced by a lumpy wall with no escape. Isshin felt the walls to check for some other kind of exit, fruitlessly.

_I ran for three freaking days, and it gets me into a damn dead end. _

"Shit! Damn that asshole Aizen!" Isshin shouted, kicking the wall in front of him. "This isn't goddamn right!" He kicked the wall another three times. He went for a fourth, but found that the wall had disappeared. He struck his lighter, the fire showing an empty corridor, with the light hovering at the end. Isshin blinked. He _had _kicked a wall just now hadn't he? He took a step forward and saw another passage intersecting with the one he was in. Then in the other tunnel he swore he could see something moving. He raised up his lighter.

Crawling far into the other tunnel was a hollow. The hollow was huge, two feet taller than Isshin, and barely wide enough to fit in the passageway. Isshin tried to quiet his breathing. However, the moment he moved, made a mark in the dirt, the hollow noticed. It rammed towards him, its thousands of legs scampering as fast as they could. The odd thing was that it never made a sound. Even as it ran towards him the creature was silent, the only noise coming from the snapping of its pincers. On second glance Isshin saw that the creature wasn't touching the rock. It was using its spiritual energy to form a barrier around itself, hovering its long body in mid-air.

As the charge came closer, Isshin wasn't sure whether he was facing the front of the back of the beast. He could only feel a rumbling and watch as it dived for him.

Isshin used shunpo to back into the corner before could arrive, and then jumped out of its grasp at the last possible moment. It stormed right into him, demolishing part of the wall before veering into the other tunnel. The hollow had Isshin between its pincers, inches away from its mouth, as it charged down the path.

Isshin tried to push himself free but the pincers clamped down on his chest, tightening as they attempted to rip him in half. Isshin wrestled away his arms away. He couldn't reach for his sword, but he was far from helpless.

"Shakkahō!"

His throat was rough when he said it, a symptom of not talking for nearly three days. That didn't stop a massive red ball of energy appeared in his head. He launched it at the hollow. The red flame shot at high speed into the beast's mouth and blew it up from the inside. The blast rippled throughout the rest of its body until all that was left was a smouldering mass. The pincers let Isshin go once it was finally dead. He took out his sword and purified the hollow. It immediately turned to dust, leaving an open path for Isshin to walk through.

He had been avoiding using Kido up until that point. Once Urahara had given him the gigai, Isshin had practiced using his sword again, but not Kido. He had never been very good at controlling his Kido attacks. They were usually all or nothing. And, seeing the way hollow had died, it was definitely on the 'all' switch. He was glad he hadn't tried to make a light for himself. It would've killed him.

Isshin found the way out after only a ten minute walk. At the end of the passage there was a hole in the ceiling. There was no ladder, so Isshin used his own spiritual pressure to push his body upwards. Topside, he groaned. His vision glared now that there was some light for a change. It didn't take long for his eyes to readjust, and once they did, he discovered that he was in another hallway. He groaned again. It seemed to go two ways. The left went on for quite a while, but the right looked to have a sizeable room close by. Isshin headed right. He found it more comforting to head to the place with the most light after being underground for so long.

As Isshin walked towards it, he heard crying. It sounded like it was coming from a child. He moved a little faster. The passage led to a circular chamber, with three other passage ways leading out of it, one of which appeared like it had been created by simply pounding at the wall until it broke. The crying came from a small girl in green rags, who was surrounded by two rather disturbing hollows. One was composed of a giant face, while the other looked like a near-human sized insect.

"Get away from her!" Isshin yelled, his throat still hoarse. He quickly ran over there and tried to shoo them off. He kicked the one with an oversized head and then threw the insect across the room. The insect smashed into the wall, smoothly falling down.

"Hey, what was that for!" The insect yelled, as it got back up to its feet. Isshin walked over and grabbed the hollow from the ground, prepared to kill it in an instant.

"Stop it! Stop hurting them!" The girl shrieked. She ran till she was beside Isshin, and pulled at his gi. "What did we do to you!"

Isshin turned to her, the arrancar still in his hand. "Kid, I'm trying to help-" Isshin stopped talking when he saw the girl's hollow mask. It was cartoon skull, seated right on head like it was a hat. The arrancar squirmed in his grasp as it tried to get free. "Wait, are you an arrancar?"

"Yeah, and I'll kick your ass if you don't let my older brother go!" The girl yelled, now attempting to climb his arm.

"Hey, hey, kid, get off me!" Isshin tried to buck the girl off as she scaled his back until she was standing on his shoulders. The arrancar in his hand used this opportunity to kick Isshin in the balls.

In sudden pain, Isshin tossed both the girl and the insect onto the ground.

"That hurt like hell," Isshin bellowed at the two arrancar. "You don't hit a man there!"

"B-but, you attacked us first!" She cried. Isshin rolled up his sleeves and proceeded to beat them silly.

After everyone calmed down, the three arrancar lined up in front of Isshin and bowed. They looked genuinely sorry. Isshin let them apologize, and then lectured them on proper fighting technique, repeatedly saying that the groin was not an honourable place to hit in a fight. The three arrancar nodded.

"We give you our bestest sorries! I was crying since two of our friends just ran into those doors without letting me follow them. I told them Aizen would brutally murder us if he seed us inside Las Noches! But-t" The girl started to cry again. The giant face and the insect latched on her and started crying too.

"They never think about us!" They said in unison.

Isshin wasn't sure what to do with them. They were arrancar, but they certainly didn't act like them. He tried to say something but wasn't sure what to call them either.

"Don't cry, um, hollows." Isshin stumbled through the phrase. This was getting really awkward. He took in a breath and kneeled down to the girl's level. He looked at them and spoke calmly. "Let's start again, who are you guys?"

They wiped the tears from their eyes quickly and all jumped into position.

It was a mess. It started out a little dumb with each of them yelling out their name but the rest was rotten. They each screamed something different, then started arguing with each other. Isshin sighed. _How'd I get mixed up with these idiots?_ He didn't try to ask how they could possibly be siblings. That would have been too complex a question.

"I'm telling you, the Great Desert Brothers is the only thing worthy of our great being," Pesshe insisted. Dondochakka butted in and gave his own complaint.

"No, no! We gotta do the 'The Three Brothers'!"

"We can't do that. I'm a girl! We're the NellDonPe Bandits! It's got all of our names in it!" Nel pointed out. Isshin wondered how they had lived this long as hollows.

"Give it a rest. I'm not surprised they left you here." Isshin interjected. When they tried to start again, Isshin yelled at them. That seemed to calm them down.

"Just who brought you guys here? You may be arrancars, but you don't look strong enough to make that hole in the wall." Isshin pointed to the collapsed wall. Nel looked up happily.

"That was Chad and Ryuhen!" She announced, while Dondochakka and Pesshe did impressions behind her. Chad's resulted in Pesshe standing on top of Dondochakka with a grim expression on his face, while 'Ryuhen's' involved Nel pretending to have a bow and Dondochakka using Pesshe as arrows.

"Wait, Ryu_hen _or Ryu_ken?_" Isshin asked eagerly.

"That's what I said! Ryuhen! Though, he kept telling me to call him something else. _It's disrespectful to use first names with stranglers! _he said._" _ Isshin guessed the girl meant strangers. Excluding the error, it sounded like Ryuken.

Isshin laughed and raised a fist into the air. "So the stubborn idiot made it here after all!" He loved the idea that Ryuken had finally convinced himself to save his son rather than say it was beyond his responsibility. Then he looked at the three idiot arrancars standing before him.

"Yeah, no wonder he left you guys behind." Isshin snickered. The girl looked like she was about to cry again, so Isshin took back what he said. The other two looked a little happier too when he did so.

"Ryuhen was scared of us anyway. Our introduction was too powerful for him." Pesshe said this with pride in his eyes.

"I don't think powerful is the word for it." Isshin replied. Pesshe's pride disappeared. "And I doubt he was scared."

"Well, he said we was really weird 'cause we said somethin' funny." Nel added. She paused, looking thoughtful. Isshin didn't try to interrupt her with a comment. He was curious as to what would make Ryuken scared, or at least appear so. Not much fazed the mule, and hadn't since Isshin had known him. "I thought it was really weird too. We didn't say 'NellDonPe Bandits' or 'Great Desert Bros' or 'Three Brothers'"

"What did you say?" Isshin asked automatically.

"It was something like-"

"It was incoherent nonsense," Ryuken interjected. He walked into the rounded chamber from the third exit, arms crossed. Isshin looked at him triumphant. Ryuken was wearing a dusty and sand covered version of his white suit and blue tie. Nel was ecstatic to see the Quincy again, waving her arms wildly and running up to him.

"Guess even you can't resist the call when there's a crying kid involved," Isshin said with a grin. He was almost prepared to hug this man. He watched as Nel ran into Ryuken and started to knock at his legs, crying about Ryuken leaving them alone. Pesshe and Dondochakka watched too, though they didn't try to approach Ryuken. They seemed apprehensive about getting too close. Ryuken was impassive to the crying Nel, looking straight onto Isshin's face.

"That's hardly the case. I returned to this spot because I forgot to do something." Ryuken drew his bow and aimed at the room's high ceiling. After three shots the roof started to shake and crumble.

Isshin's immediate reaction was to run to where Ryuken was standing. Dondochakka and Pesshe came after him but they never quite made it. Stone slabs dropped in front of them, blocking their entry. Within a few minutes the entire roof had toppled on top of the exit. Isshin found himself hoping that they had made it out alright. They were the strangest hollows he had ever met, one of a kind. Nel ran away from Ryuken a few seconds too late. He fists, once smashing against Ryuken now banged at the rock blocking their path.

"Dondochakka! Pesshe! Bawabawa!" she bawled, almost trying to dig through the plug with her fists. "Can you hear me? Brothers, are you okay?" Isshin made sure that he didn't look happy. He glared at the quincy. Whatever Ryuken was trying to do, he didn't need to resolve it like this. Now, he was stuck in another hallway, except this time it was with a crying arrancar.

"What the hell did you that for?" Isshin said angrily. "You were here for two seconds, and you made the girl cry again."

"Follow me, I'll explain as we go." Ryuken replied and began to run down the corridor. "That includes you, hollow."

Nel's eyes shot between the rock and the man running away from her. She quickly made a choice, bursting for him. Isshin used shunpo to flash by her and sped ahead to Ryuken's side.

"So what's going on here?"

"It's the hollow girl." Ryuken began. "It's difficult to explain, but she's an Espada."

"Are you crazy? The kid can't even form complete sentences." Isshin spat.

"Believe what you like. However, I plan on getting this misadventure finished as soon as possible. Using the hollow is a simple way to do that."

Ryuken ran ahead to a hole in the hallway wall. He said to follow him then ducked and went through. Nel toddled in after him on her own. Isshin sighed and went on after them. The hole led to another hallway, designed as if it were part of a castle. It was clear they had found some obscure shortcut to the centre of Las Noches, beyond the purely plain rooms. The white walls were decorated with objects that appeared to be antiques. They were kept in small glass boxes to keep anyone from touching them. It was as if Ryuken had led them to a museum. Fighting was not meant to occur in these halls.

They had long stopped running. Ryuken seemed to be heading towards a pale steel door at the end of the path. As they got closer, Ryuken motioned for the rest of them to stay back. Isshin stayed cautious and kept an eye on Nel, who looked a little better since they had left her 'brothers'. Ryuken stood outside to door for a couple seconds, then grabbed the handle and opened it. Isshin ran to follow Ryuken inside, but Ryuken shut the door before he could. He grabbed the doorknob but it was already locked.

"Ryuken, what is this? Don't leave me out here with this kid." Isshin muttered. He tried knocking. Nel knocked harder.

"Ryuhen, you shouldn't be an asshole and leave us here!" She pouted. Obviously there was still some resentment there.

"It's unlocked." Ryuken said a minute later, opening the door for them. Isshin went inside with a huff. Ryuken had been acting really weird since Isshin had met him in the hall. Nel went in after Isshin. As he entered the room, Isshin almost immediately began to understand what Ryuken had been talking about. Nel Tu could definitely simplify their journey.


	10. The Bitter Wind

_Author's Note: So, here it is. It's been about a week since the last one? I worked on this chapter since I release Chapter 9 last week, and because of that it's super long. It's also super long because my original plan was to stuff the first part, Isshin's Perspective, into Chapter 9, but that was already kind of big. I'm pretty sure this is my longest chapter ever. I hope I haven't messed with the pacing too much. I think I saved a little too much for it. Ah well. I love feedback as usual and it would be especially great to have this one get reviews, since it pretty much lays out how the rest of the story's going to go from here. Again, I have to thank everyone who reviewed last time as your enthusiasm compensates for numbers. Not sure when I'll have Chapter 11 out, but it'll be before the end of the month, I can promise that much.  
_

_**TL;DR Chapter Ten, Enjoy** _

**Chapter 10: The Bitter Wind  
**

Aizen's archive room collected some of the most advanced technology Isshin had ever seen. The left wall was composed of a series of impractical five foot tall computers with yellow glowing dots emanating from their panels. They all connected to the most impressive part of the room, the metal table in the centre above which hovered an image of a female arrancar, wearing Aizen's signature uniform. Isshin whistled at the sight. She was immediately striking, with her long green hair and pure hazel eyes accentuated by the calm but intense look on her face. Below the illustration was the arrancar were her name and her rank, written in a simple computer font.

Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. Espada Tres.

What struck Isshin most about the Espada was her similarity to the little girl standing agape beside him. Nel didn't make a connection between herself and the intimidating arrancar, but was amazed at the whirring noises of the machines and strobing lights. She peeked around the room occasionally making oh and ah sounds. She had enough sense not to touch anything, instead staring at them as if they were magic. To her, the static three dimensional image was a minor achievement compared to everything else in the room. Isshin looked to Ryuken, who was managing Nelliel's form from a console on the right side of the room.

"I'm going to guess they're related somehow," Isshin offered.

"They're more than related. They're the same person," Ryuken said. He hit a few keys on the console keyboard then turned towards the hologram as the arrancar's statistics and history floated in the air. Nelliel's body shrank behind the text. Statistics were listed on the left half of the image: her height, weight, rank, combat abilities, and various other traits. To the right was a detailed history of her life since she'd joined Aizen's army. Each significant event had a video link attached to it. "I'll skip to the end of her time in Las Noches. Most of this is useless."

A scene played out in front of them, Nelliel found two arrancar with their masks forcibly torn off while a grinning figure loomed nearby. She mumbled their names, Pesshe and Dondochakka. They looked different from when Isshin had last seen them, though now they were so bloody it was hard to tell. Isshin started to ask Ryuken about it, but the man shushed him and pointed to the image. Annoyed, Isshin turned back to the screen. In shock, Nelliel turned to the figure, calling him Nnoitra, and demanded to know if he was responsible. An attack came from behind her, a crescent sword slashing into her skull. She dropped next to her allies. Another arrancar walked out of the mist and starts to talk to Nnoitra. They argued about respect and seniority before Nnoitra noticed that Nelliel had turned to a small girl. She looked exactly like Nel.

Ryuken paused the frame, with all three arrancars in the shot. "Do you doubt me now?" His words were accompanied by a loud thump on the other side of the table. They both jumped to see what had happened. Nel was on the ground, passed out for some reason. Ryuken bent down to check her pulse.

"She's fine. I imagine the trauma of seeing those events again was too much for her." Ryuken said, two fingers placed at the bottom of her neck.

Isshin looked at the unconscious hollow in front of him and the one in the video then shook his head. "Yeah, they're definitely the same person." Isshin admitted. Still, he remembered how child-like she had been only seconds before. It was difficult to believe that she had been the third Espada the whole time. "There's one thing I don't get. How'd you know any of this? How'd you find this place anyway?"

"Nnoitra, the quinte Espada," Ryuken got up and pointed to the video where the black haired figure was still looking aghast. "He's quite the talker if you provoke him."

"What did you say?"

"It was nothing really. I told him that his long range abilities were pathetic and that even a girl like Nel had a greater reiatsu than him." Ryuken replied, before explaining the reiatsu spike he had sensed in Nel earlier.

"I'm glad to hear you're just as much of a jerk to your enemies." Isshin jibed. Ryuken folded his arms and glared at him. "Hey, I'm kidding!"

"I hardly think we have time to be joking around."

"Fair enough." Isshin made a apologetic smile. It was good that they were on such friendly terms again. If Ryuken was really in a bad mood he would have just ignored him. "But, don't tell me that he just told you everything."

"He told me enough. I reacted similarly as you did to my comments about her, but he was adamant. He even promised to 'drag my corpse to the archive room to prove it'. Needless to say he didn't get that chance. After the battle I decided to check if this room was just a snide remark. It wasn't that hard to find after I broke down a wall or two."

Ryuken looked uncomfortable as he explained what had happened. It was the same look Isshin had had when Urahara first gave him his healing gigai. Ryuken probably hadn't tried to attack anything worth more than fifty percent of his abilities in years. Trying to access that energy again, even the intent to kill, it was a difficult thing just to walk back into. It was almost like trying to learn how to use a limb again. No question that it would come back to him quickly. Ryuken had always been a fast learner.

"Alright," Isshin said, reeling the event over in his mind. He was sure that Ryuken would have been at least even match for the Espada. "Is he dead?"

"I doubt it. He was annoyingly resilient." Ryuken confessed. "However, I can guarantee he won't be moving for a while."

"Looks like you're starting to get the hang of this again."

"I never lost it. Unlike you, I didn't leave my abilities to rot." Ryuken said, and returned to the console. Isshin didn't take Ryuken's comment as an insult. Isshin had made his choice years ago, in the hopes that he'd never have to use them again. Perhaps it was smarter to have kept his Shinigami powers, but it was far too late to change that decision. Besides, he enjoyed the years where he was responsible for taking care of the dead. Ryuken's comment did create another question however. If that was true, that he had kept his abilities at top form, then why did he look so uncomfortable? Isshin kept the question to himself. If Ryuken didn't want to tell him, that was _his_ choice.

Realizing they had left Nel on the ground, Isshin picked her up and laid her on top of the table. The image of Nel passed out hanging above them was almost as the one he had created. Nel looked pained in both. Luckily it wasn't under the same circumstances.

Across the table was Ryuken, typing away at the keyboard. The video disappeared after a couple clicks, replaced again by Nelleil's buxom form. Ryuken spun her around on the spot while Isshin watched. A few more clicks landed him on another screen that was titled, Resurrección, which showed Nelliel in her released form. Isshin laughed. She looked like a green mountain goat. He stopped when he read her statistics. In her time, she was an arduous fighter. Isshin might have had a bit of trouble with her in her prime.

"I hope your plan isn't to ransom her. I doubt Aizen's going to take a trade." Isshin asked. Aizen only wanted the strongest arrancar in his domain. He would probably view her as a failed creation, deserving of her child state. Plus, Isshin wasn't sure he'd give her back to Aizen even if he wanted her.

"I'd have to agree with that. We'll have to return Nel to her adult self before we could do anything." Ryuken didn't look away from the computer, answering immediately. It seemed like he had been expecting the question.

"So, then we'd use her like a battering ram? I get why you said she's important, but you've left me in the dark as to what you want to do with her."

"It'll be easier to explain as we go along. You work better on impulse than strict rules. You'll be a lot more effective out of the loop."

Isshin wondered if that was an insult or not. When Ryuken didn't follow it up with a snide remark he decided to take it as a compliment, though he still didn't appreciate not knowing what was going on. It wasn't the first time Ryuken had done this. Almost eighteen years ago, they had 'cooperated' in taking down certain hollows. That was Ryuken's term. He refused to accept that they were ever allies. They were simply two individuals working towards a similar goal. That was before Isshin had met Masaki, before Ryuken had met his wife, before they had both taken the arduous task of getting a job.

And yet, against all odds, even in regular life they had partnered up. His clinic had a symbiotic relationship with the Karakura Hospital, and Ryuken could count on Isshin to take care of any local issues, events that needed a doctor on site. If Aizen had done anything wrong in his scheming, it had been allowing them to work together again.

"I'm surprised that it was this easy to break into Aizen's system, or have you been priming your computer skills as much as your archery skills?" Isshin said, giving Ryuken a serious look. It was one of the multiple things Isshin had been suspicious about since he had entered the room. Aizen wouldn't have let them have access to all this information without some kind of firewall or password, and the last time Isshin checked, Ryuken wasn't a hacker.

"It was quite easy, actually. It's all networked through his security system. There were no barriers for interior access so it let me right in." Ryuken replied. He paused. Isshin was about to ask if he was sure, if he knew of anything of any way that Aizen could track them there, but didn't. From the way Ryuken had stopped, as if to let the idea just seep in, he already knew what Isshin was about to ask. "There is one security precaution they did take however. This room is bugged."

"But, that makes this a-"

"A trap, yes." Ryuken confirmed without skipping a beat. He hit a button on the keyboard, which caused a sheet of paper to eject from another machine resting below the console. Ryuken folded it and then put it in his pocket. "It's about time that we leave."

"A trap? You walked me and a kid right into a trap!" Isshin roared. Ryuken wasn't paying attention. He moved between servers trying to turn each of them off. When he couldn't he summoned his bow and shot an arrow through each machine. They all whirred to a halt. Isshin didn't understand what was happening. He looked at Ryuken for an answer, but he was already on his way out the door.

"Grab the hollow. The cavalry will be here soon." Ryuken said and stepped out the door. Isshin glanced at Nel, his thoughts shifting between shouting at Ryuken and picking her up. When heard the door slam he reluctantly heaved the girl onto his shoulders and headed after his friend, hoping to do a little bit of both. As he opened the door, he saw in front of it a pool of hollows and arrancar stretch back into the hall. Ryuken was already surrounded by guards, his arrows picking them off one by one, only to have ten more of them appear. At the rear of the assault was an Espada. Isshin couldn't see him, but could tell from how overwhelming his reiatsu was.

_Looks like you mentioned their cavalry a little too late._

"Ryuken, I seriously hope you know what the hell you're doing. I'll kill you if we don't make it out of this alive." Isshin bellowed, grabbing the closest hollow and smashing it against another. Ryuken smirked.

Isshin made sure the girl was tight enough on his shoulders as the hollows gathered round him. Eventually they formed a circle of twelve different looking hollows. They were equally monstrous; each appearing like it was made of random animal parts. One had the claws of a panther with the legs of a panther. Another had hard grey skin, like a Rhino, with assorted horns all over its body. They all had the same hollow mask.

Aizen had out done himself at creating series of creatures Isshin immediately recognized as disgusting. Individually they were of mediocre strength, but in such great numbers, they were going to be a pain in the ass to beat. He was glad that the more powerful foes still seemed a while off. He studied them cautiously, watching to see if they would take the first move.

When they didn't , he pulled out his sword and cut through the first four. A hollow with a shark's teeth tried to bite into his shoulder, but he elbowed it, before swinging around to slice it in half. The two sides fell away from each, squirting blood onto the carpet floor.

He bumped into another set of hollows that they started to climb onto his back. He wrestled to get them off. Eventually he blasted them with a kido, Okasen, literally burning them to cinders where they hung. Their ashes clung to his gi.

Still they kept coming. He cut and he slashed and ripped and tore through these monsters, all the while making sure Nel didn't fall from his should. He looked over to Ryuken. He was holding his own. He'd eliminate at least four at a time, but more would arrive as he pulled back for the shot. After what Isshin counted as seventy-six hollows he had purified, he had enough. He signalled Ryuken to give him thirty seconds. Ryuken understood what Isshin was about to do. They had done this combination a hundred times.

Ryuken leapt towards the wall behind him, using enough reiatsu to keep him standing on top of it. He aimed his bow at the feverish crowd.

"Licht Regen."

The first quarter of the hall was mostly clear. Only the stragglers remained. Isshin wasn't concerned about them. His body was charging spiritual energy, from himself and the world around him. It wasn't hard with the nature of Hueco Mundo. Spirit particles were everywhere. It took a few seconds for the creatures further back into the hall to realize what had happened. That was all Isshin needed. He jumped, then slashed down, cutting through the air.

"Getsuga Tenshō," He screamed a second before his foot touched the ground. A black light grew from the edge of his sword and shot out into the hall, obliterating everything in its path.

When the dust cleared, Isshin's heart sank. He had only killed the chimeras. The Espada at the far edge of the hall still stood behind a wall of arrancars. The hall was torn apart, but no damage had come to the Espada's bodyguards. Isshin wasn't sure if this was the Espada's ability or if his own power had stunted so much since he had last used them. As if to signal his failure a green mist hung above the evaporating corpses.

_A mist that has a reiatsu._

Isshin charged for another attack. He looked to see if Ryuken sensed it too. Ryuken was glaring upwards at the mist, though unmoving.

"Ryuken, what do you think we should do about that thing?" Isshin called as he felt spirit particles gather in his sword's hilt. Ryuken didn't respond. Isshin would have punched the Quincy to catch his attention but his attack kept him planted. "Ryuken! I'm asking for your help here."

Again, Ryuken said nothing. The green mist now hovered closer. Isshin looked into it, aimed strike, when he saw the tiniest hint of a blade within the mist. It swarmed him, covering his body with its essence. In his alarm, he released the attack unfinished. It ripped past the mist, unleashing a red spray, before charging onto the arrancars where it once more, did nothing. It wasn't until he noticed that his arms were no longer moving that he grasped that the mist's sword had cut him. Pricked him was more like it. He could see a tiny drop of stinging crimson on his wrist. His shoulders were next, followed by his back and chest. His breathing became more difficult. He tried to run, but his legs were already lost. Isshin glanced above him as Nel slipped from his stiff shoulders. He heard her own taut form crash behind him.

His gaze returned to the mist. It was gone, replaced with a lanky arrancar wearing a white gas mask. He stood dizzily, unable to stand up on his legs. It was likely because he had an entire chunk of his left side missing. The left arm and shoulder, and a piece of his chest had disappeared into Isshin's half-complete blast. Blood erupted from the torn flesh. The arrancar staggered as he tried to get a good look of his enemy. He was laughing beneath his mask. It echoed within his mask, a cackle that was as annoying as it was unaware. The arrancar didn't understand why it was stumbling forward. Isshin understood it as the cry of an animal who could not foretell the end of his life.

The beast tried to understand. He reached for Isshin's face with his remaining arm. It shuddered violently and so weakly that Isshin could blow him away with his breath. It never reached him. Isshin almost felt pity as the arrancar tumbled to the ground. Isshin would have knocked the hollow away if his arms had let him. Instead he was stuck watching the arrancar disappear into the air so that by the time he touched the ground, there was only gas.

* * *

Szayel studied the experiment data he had amassed over the last four days. He sighed as he stared at his expectations routinely being beaten by the boy's determination. He couldn't have anticipated how much hassle there would be in the final two days of his quincy specimen's testing. The quincy had refused to take part in any experiment without having been thoroughly sedated and thrown into the test environment to fend for himself. Szayel counted himself lucky that the mental examinations were over. The quincy would have never permitted him to complete a traditional psychological evaluation. Szayel presumed that once his specimen had been broken mentally, he'd submit to whatever tests Szayel presented. But that child never made things easy. Even after Szayel had allowed him to bathe and eat occasionally. He had his own room, right beside that healer girl's. He was being more than pleasant with the boy.

He was also thankful that his tests were more than eighty percent complete. All that was left was a second speed test and a stress test. The specimen was in the midst of completing the latter at the moment. The stress test consisted of a room with walls that slowly enclosed on the test subject. The only way to escape was to disable the control mechanism box, which was hidden beneath a floor panel. The stress part of the test came from having to push yourself through two layers of barbed wire and miniature flesh consuming insects protecting it.

There were few suspicions that the boy would pass. He had passed every other test with flying colours. It was a matter of how he did it. He had _defeated_ the first speed test by propelling himself forward with his arrows, destroying grinder that had been 'chasing' him while he was on the conveyer belt. The accuracy test had been nearly perfect, even after Szayel had started to administer electric shocks. The experiments usually ended with overwhelming results and/or a crucially damaged testing facility. The reflex experiment had been plain disastrous. _I had to recreate Lumina and Verona twice, just to reason with him._ At this point Szayel was testing how creatively the quincy would respond to his challenges instead an actual score.

He glanced at the time. The boy would be done the last examinations in approximately three hours. This was not an estimate of the boy's abilities, just a time limit. If he wasn't done in three hours, it would signal that the boy wasn't strong enough to undergo the hollowfication process. _Still, if he does succeed, I could have him begin the transformation before the end of the night. _

Szayel had been surprised when he realized the boy's abilities were actually nothing to be talked about. He was average level in most aspects. His strength was weak, though he could withstand varying amounts of physical pain for prolonged lengths of time. His agility, again, was nothing special. It didn't compare to Sonido. Energy? Average. Lung capacity? Normal. Individual Arrow strength. Mediocre. What set him apart was his accuracy and intelligence. He utilized his powers to supersede most obstacles he couldn't through brute force. This also kept a question mark hovering above what the boy could actually do. There was always the chance that he was hiding his full capacity, using only what he needed to complete each task.

_That makes him a better candidate for this transformation than I had intended. I doubt it will take him a week to adapt to his new self._ Despite this, the fact that all of his data could be incorrect infuriated Szayel.

He continued to review his pages meticulously, trying to see where his specimen could have evaded effort. Four hours later, Szayel was ready to proceed on to the more complicated plans. There was the girl, the _other _quincy. He had never been sure what to do with the girl or why Aizen wanted her. She was so imperfect, it disgusted him. The girl barely retained her original form. She had her face and her neck, but the rest of her was wildly disfigured. Her chest, abdomen, back and joints were penetrated by ashen spikes, coming from a layer beneath her skin. Her mask was quite literal, covering the top half of her face, except the eyes, like she was continually attending a masquerade ball. It was unfinished. Szayel imagined that she would look much different had the process been a success. To disguise the blemish upon his flawless environment, he had wrapped a black cloak around the parts of her body that were the ugliest.

As he grabbed her from the railing above his vat, he shuddered when he felt the lumps and thorns through the cloak. He almost dropped her, but decided that the less harm done to her body the better. There was also the chance he would have damaged the wiring connected to her. He had much rather deal with the Shinigami boy (he called that him that, although right now he was closer to a hollow than any shinigami) who was still hanging from the ceiling. Szayel had taken him down periodically to play with, the boy's physiology was too intriguing not to, but had yet to wake him up. The fumes coming from the vat kept him constantly sedated and considering record's of that boy's hollow being insatiable, it seemed like the better decision for the time being.

The table where he laid her was the same that he had used for the main specimen. It was cold, uncomfortable and impossible to break, a feature that had been well used in the past. He took the girl and strapped her into the leather bands. She hadn't been aggressive under the resuscitation of Szayel's device, though that was more likely to do with the lack of higher brain function. He wasn't going to take the risk that the girl at her height could be more powerful than he had projected.

Secretly, he hoped that she would. It would be all the more evidence of his success in Lord Aizen's eyes.

The original plan had been to use one of Enire's various poisons to keep her unconscious instead of just the straps, but the arrancar was preoccupied with pulling himself back together. The rest of Szayel's fraccion had yet to collect all of the gas Enire had unleashed after that shinigami had removed everything left of his ribcage. Though, there was no cause for alarm, the intruders wouldn't be causing any more trouble. _Or most of them anyway._ There was still a third one roaming about Las Noches. Last Szayel checked he was conversing with the noveno Espada. Szayel didn't expect the trespasser to make it much further than that.

Once the girl had been fastened to the table, Szayel's fingers hovered above the intercom. There were a few seconds of hesitation before he punched in the healer's three digit code.

"Girl, your services are needed. Make your way to my laboratory, and please, don't get lost this time." Szayel relayed into the microphone. The girl said one word of confirmation. She arrived within five minutes, wearing Aizen's uniform, just like he had instructed her. He called her over and she came. "This is your target for today. I need her functional within the hour."

She walked over to the malformed arrancar, and spoke the words she always did.

"Sōten Kisshun, I reject," She murmured. A golden translucent bubble grew over the broken quincy's body. Szayel was happy with the immediacy. Where the quincy boy had been rude and defiant, the healer had bent to his will almost as soon as he had met her. Every day, he gave her a new target to heal with different conditions. He had started with something simple, a sprained ankle, and slowly moved up to reviving the dead. This morning, he had her bring back someone who had no body to speak of, having been purified a day before. She had done that dutifully. Szayel got the feeling that she was like the quincy she was healing, broken. In every action there was depression and most steps followed a sigh. She spoke only single words and awkward loyalty. Yes, sir, no, sir, where,sir , and the rarer, I understand, sir. Szayel had to wonder what had killed her spirit so completely. _Perhaps she is finally in awe of our Lord and Master and the wonders he has given us, namely me. _

Her room had been moved to the science department's region of operations. Szayel never told her that the quincy was sleeping in the room beside her, but assumed that the girl had figured it out on her own. They exited and entered often enough that they should have run into each other at least once. He had found her sobbing the night before and took that as an indicator that they had.

As the minutes passed, Szayel watched the girl do the impossible. He grabbed the girl by the hand as he saw the spikes recede from the subject's corpse. The healer was doing more than bringing the quincy girl back, she was somehow stabilizing her. The hollow elements regrouped around her body, shooting out, then in, then hardening.

"Beautiful! You pitiful child, you've managed to take your head out of that piss jar you usually keep it in. Now, accelerate the process. I want to see this arrancar's birth in minutes." Szayel found his grip tighting around the healer's hand as she succeeded in bringing a second life to the girl.

"I-I'll try," She said. _That's a new one. _

The healer focused her attention. The body started to seizure as the spikes returned and grew, shooting out of the healer's bubble. She stumbled back. Szayel let her go when she did, and watched in amazement as the body corrected itself. It was going on its own now and within seconds a girl of fifteen was laying there. The only indicator that she wasn't human was her mask. Still covering the top half of her face, the mask was awkwardly shaped. It led from the bottom of her eyes to her fringe, and seemed to accentuate her features. It no longer looked like a masquerade's, although Szayel couldn't tell what it was. It acted like another layer of the girl's face, seated upon the skin underneath it.

The healer's golden bubble disappeared. Szayel approached his new specimen slowly, ready for her to jump up and strike. When she didn't, he placed one hand on the girl's wrist and frowned.

"She's still brain dead." Szayel spat. He ran to his monitors, which confirmed it. "After the effort I put into you, you turned out to be a useless piece of machinery. _Miss_ Inoue, you will stand here and work until your abilities do the job I demanded of you." He came back, if only to lord over her. "You will heal this girl until she can breathe on her own. You will do that much at least."

"I understand, sir." She said immediately. Szayel looked on as she reset her golden arch and got to work. Despite what she had said, he wasn't sure she ever understood what she was doing.

No matter how much he stared at her, an hour went by without much change in the quincy girl's state. She twitched but was perpetually unthinking. Szayel's frown lingered till the end, when he was fed up of waiting and dismissed the healer to leave. She left curtly.

There were few indicators as to what had happened or what went wrong. The quincy girl looked healthy now. Her skin was more flushed, about as rosy as a hollow could be, her cheeks full, her muscles strong, and yet no matter what device he used to test her brain function or her heart rate, they all declared her as good as dead. He would have to tell Aizen about this. Perhaps not immediately though. He could leave it until after he had created a successful arrancar.

Szayel doubled checked his reports in case he missed anything. When they came out, one by one, they were disappointingly similar. He would take each one, read it over, then crumple it into a ball and throw it aside. Only when the brain scans came in did he pause. For one statistic it had not recorded any numbers. In its place were words.

"Mem-" he began aloud.

Before he could finish the question, a bell rang, alerting him that the final test had been complete. The boy had finished a half hour early. _No surprises there, _he thought excitedly. Szayel collected all of his work in a pile and sewed it together with a rubber band. He would have a new creation before dawn, and with it would come rank, respect and honour, all from the great Lord Aizen. He couldn't wait to see Nnoitra's ugly face at the ceremony.

Szayel collected the read out and then dashed to the enrichment facility to begin the final preparations.

* * *

The bells echoed throughout the science department. Every room had one to signal Ishida's, and Szayel's, success. Orihime was sitting on her bed when it rang. She trembled at the sound. An entire month had passed since she was kidnapped, the first time anyway. _And I've made things so much worse. _The previous time, they had just left her in room, calling her out for medical tests every other day. At least then she had some hope of escape. She said didn't want them to, but there was the hope that Ichigo would come to rescue her. Still, Orihime had made a plan on her own, and hadi ntended to destroy the Hogyoku in the process.

That was all gone. Her plan had failed and she had literally returned to where she started. Her last dream of liberation was Ichigo and her friends. Ulquiorra had said often enough that no one would come to save her, but it took until she saw them, Ichigo and Ishida, tied up like animals. Orihime had snuck into Szayel's laboratory to see if there was anything she could use to contact the outside world or aid in an escape when she had found them. Ichigo was sickly and constantly on the verge of death, hung up from the ceiling like meat, while Ishida... He looked alive at least. And she knew why. They needed him this way.

The revelation of Aizen's plans was still a horrific moment for her. He had made her watch Ichigo's and Ishida's abduction, then detailed his plans for them. Orihime had shuddered when they said that Ishida would have to kill his father, both mentally and physically. Szayel came by later to explain the 'experiments'. The physical torture and humiliation they were going to make him endure. Their plans for Ichigo were equally terrible. They wanted to use him as a pet or eat him if he became too '_feisty'. _The most painful part was that Aizen always thanked her for the opportunity. He continually reminded the Espada and his assistants how much he was in debt to her.

_I couldn't have done this without you. _She could see Aizen's smiling face as he mockingly kissed her hand and had the Espada clap and roar on her behalf.

Ishida's room was right beside hers, though she had never tried to approach him. It was too difficult. Every time she saw him the words in her head repeated. _I did this. This is my fault. _In her desire to become useful she had transcended that in the worst possible way. She was less than useless, she was hurting them.

It had never been her intention to go back to that moment in time like she had. She had just wanted to escape from everything. _And I've made everything so much worse, _she thought again. She didn't cry. That was one thing she had promised herself. She had already cried for herself, and wanted to save any tears she had for Ishida until he was gone.

Now with the bell ringing, she suddenly longed to say goodbye to him. Maybe even apologize for what she'd done.

Orihime waited for him outside his bedroom. It wasn't a long wait, ten minutes at the most. Yet, somehow it was agonizing. She wondered how waiting for two weeks made such a short time impossible. It was more distressing when she saw him come near. At the sound of his footsteps she almost turned around and ran. In spite of the anxiety she stood her ground and greeted him quietly.

"Hello Ishida. I'm sorry I haven't said anything before this." She started awkwardly. Her head was done the whole time. Looking him in the eyes was beyond her. "I just wanted to say-"

"It's fine, I understand why you would be hesitant." Orihime was thankful he stopped her. She had felt the words building in her throat and was ready to cough them all up. He opened the door to his room and moved towards it. She was afraid that he was abandoning her, and so never looked up to see his hand on her shoulder. "If you would like to talk, it's best that you come inside. This air isn't suited for conversation."

She raised her head and followed him in. His room was about the same size as hers. It had a bed with plain white sheets, against two white walls and glass third. From there they both had a view of the throne room where the ceremony was to take place later tonight. Neither of them looked into it. Ishida sat down against his bed and watched her, waiting. Orihime wasn't sure how to respond.

"Sit down, you don't need to gape like that. We're friends," Ishida insisted. She did without much protest, though in the back of her mind she was complaining that all she was here to do was say goodbye. Being so familiar wasn't going to be good for her. "I'm surprised you're so timid. What happened to you?"

Orihime made a shallow laugh, a mockery of the ones she had done before. "If I told you, you probably wouldn't believe me."

"You haven't told me anything yet, so I can't judge. Though, if it's like those crazy stories you told in class I'd have to think for a moment." Ishida smiled. He sat up straight, his back leaning against the wood of the bed. He was still wearing his own clothes, his usual short sleeved shirt and dress pants. They were ratty and torn at the ends, but stood as a symbol of his open defiance. By comparison Orihime felt like a traitor in her clothes. It was too late now. Szayel Aporro had either hidden or thrown out her old cardigan and jeans.

"I wish it was something like that. It would be nice if I could tell those stories again." She giggled softly, genuinely this time. Remembering all of the silly things she had thought up at school made her smile. It had only been a few months she had last done that. Before summer, before Soul Society, she had been as naïve and reposed as a little girl.

"Inoue, you still haven't told me anything. I didn't even know you were here until I bumped into you yesterday."

"I…" She didn't know where to start. Taking a breath, she calmed herself, and decided to start with when they first took her. "I was coming home from Soul Society, when Ulquiorra attacked me. He killed my escorts, and said they would do the same to my friends. The shinigami were fighting in Karakura Town at time, so, I don't think they noticed."

"I see, then that was the Monday you never came to class." He asked, counting the days on his fingers. "I think Ichigo mentioned something about having an injury healed. That was your work then?" Orihime nodded, and blushed.

"I hope I haven't caused too much trouble." She explained how they had let her visit one person before she was taken for good. Ishida appeared thoughtful, filing the knowledge somewhere in his head.

"No, I can't blame you for getting kidnapped, no more than I can blame myself for being here." Ishida said carefully. "These creatures, they're nothing more than monsters. We didn't have much choice in the matter." _But you can blame me for what's going to happen to you. I've killed you. It's tonight and you're gone. And then you'll be… _She looked up at him and tried to brave enough to declare her role in his torture. Yet, he appeared so calm, and she was happy being with him. It had been weeks since she had spoken to a friend. It was easier to ignore her gripes so long as there was someone to talk to. She cursed that she hadn't done this earlier. She regretted never trying to say anything before this. Words were murmured from her lips, but neither she nor Ishida heard them. Ishida started talking again before she could speak.

"It's unfortunate, but it seems I'll be dead before we'll get a chance to speak again. Szayel plans on skewering me in some barbaric ritual." Ishida turned to the glass wall and gazed down onto the throne where they kept the Hogyoku hidden. He paused and let himself breathe. "To be honest, I'm glad you came here, even if our conversation has been awkward without fault. I'm not sure I would have tried to approach you. When I was home I didn't notice you were gone and I never came to help you." Orihime balked when he said that. "You'll have to forgive me for that."

"I know, a-and it's okay," Orihime replied. It was her fault for being so feeble. Ishida and Ichigo shouldn't have to save her all the time. If she had resisted, if she had fought, maybe she wouldn't be here. She felt her head drop again and let her eyes stare at the concrete ground

"Regardless, I'm sorry but I'm still going to have to ask two favours of you."

"What?" She stammered without looking up.

"Close your blinds when they start the ceremony. I don't want you to see something unnecessary, and-" He moved his hand on top of hers and rested it there for a moment. She went pale and tried to look away from his hands and his face. "It's best that you take this."

A small object dropped between her fingers. Then he pulled away, his hands with him. There were a few seconds of silence where she fumbled the object between her fingers. Ishida said nothing and waited for a response. Like him, she said nothing.

"I don't think we have anymore time to talk. You should leave." Ishida broke the silence with harsh words said soft. "Szayel will need me soon. You have to go."

Orihime moved her head up and down in understanding. She left the room as quickly as she had entered it. The object was creased tight in her hand as she ran to her room and shut the door. She wondered if she could do it all again, again. Another time, she could go further back, before she had gotten her powers. She could go back to a time when all she had between her and Ichigo were clumsy glances, except maybe then she'd be brave enough to talk to him. She could repeat what she had said the night before she was kidnapped to his face.

These were dangerous thoughts, she knew. What would happen if she should go back now? Where would Rukia go? Would they still go to Soul Society to help her? Orihime wasn't sure she could go through that again anyway. She had caused enough damage. It was better that she stayed here and endured the punishment.

Remembering the gift Ishida had given her, she unfurled her hand and finally looked at it. It was a simple folded piece of paper crumpled beneath her fingers. She unfolded it part by part, careful not to tear the edges.

_It's an escape plan, _she gasped. They were instructions on how to escape Las Noches once they had brought Uryu to the throne room. It was a step by step guide detailing where, when and how she could save herself and Ichigo. It ended by telling her that by the following morning she and Ichigo would be home in their beds so long as she followed his instructions to the letter.

After reading it over twice, she understood how and why it worked. It was foolproof, considering all the strongest arrancar would be at the ceremony.

She was so amazed at this paper and so happy at her chance that she sat down on her bed and collapsed. A wide smile was brandished on her face. After all this they could go home, and if they chose, they could fight Aizen together. She laughed at the prospect. She read it a third time before realizing that was nothing in there on how to save him. Her laughter stopped. Ichigo and her could be home by the following night, but where would Ishida be? _And what would he be?_

_

* * *

_Uryu had sent Inoue away for no one but himself. Szayel didn't need him for a few hours, and Uryu wouldn't have gone with him even if he asked. Szayel was going to have to drag him out of this room. His plan had been to sneak that paper to her, nothing else. If they had spent any more time together Szayel would have suspected something was afoot.

Uryu had accepted that there were few opportunities for escape open to him. This meant that he was going to have to open one. His plan for Inoue was concrete. As long as the security protocols were what he anticipated, Inoue would have a safe exit. His own liberation was going to require a bit more expertise and assistance. His father was somewhere in Las Noches.

He woken up two nights before and sensed his spiritual energy coming from the sky. He had thought it was a sick hallucination, however once he looked into it, he grasped that Ryuken wasn't the only one who had travelled to Hueco Mundo. A shinigami had come with him, as had Chad. He could sense Chad now, somewhere on the other side of Las Noches. Szayel had told him that Chad was fighting the ninth Espada. He had paid attention to the conflict and noticed that Chad's spiritual energy dwindled as time went on. That didn't stop Uryu from hoping that he'd win. They both had the same kind of determination, Chad would fight until he had succeeded or was incapacitated.

By contrast, he had no idea where his father was. There had been a confrontation with him and the Shinigami earlier, but that was the last he had sensed them. Even their spirit strings were gone. Szayel had quickly created a sizable army to attack them. He had felt both sides fighting a monstrous battle. One attack from each of them and most of Szayel's fiends were gone. But then, mid-battle, they had stopped. Uryu didn't want to assume they had been captured, since that made little sense considering the destruction they had caused in such a short time. It was more likely that they were hiding.

As much as he disliked asking for Ryuken's help, that was the crux of this plan. Uryu was going to send a distress message to his father in Morse code, signalling his location and plan. It was simple enough. The one complication was the medium he would use to transport the message. He would use his reiatsu. Quincies powered their abilities from the spirit particles in the air, and to use them, they had to apply those particles with their spiritual energy. If Uryu could regulate the rate in which he absorbed those particles, he could simulate Morse code through the differing spiritual pressure. Absorbing a quick burst of spirit particles was a dot while a longer and greater absorption was a dash. The best part about it was that it would only be detected by Quincies. Most spiritually aware individuals wouldn't notice, at least for a while.

This provided further issues. First of all he couldn't communicate from anywhere. He had to be in a place with a lot of spirit particles for his pulse to be felt by a person outside of the same room. In the room Szayel had given him, this was impossible. The room sealed off any spirit particles, leaving him unable to summon his bow, his Morse code idea aside. He wasn't allowed in the hallways long enough to make a dent there either.

It would have to be in the throne room. It was the largest room in Las Noches' central hub and would provide ample particles to be absorbed. The Hogyoku would also provide ample energy. Of course, all of Aizen's strongest Espada would be there also, making the operation a lot trickier. He grimaced at the thought. As long as Ryuken adhered to his proposal it wouldn't be as much of a problem.

With all this in mind, Uryu laid on his bed and tried to get some sleep. He had slept fitfully since he had arrived, a side effect of Szayel's sedatives and his own stress. He fought for a two hours rest, giving him the energy he would need to complete the night's task. However, determination to sleep didn't as well as it did for everything else. He was causing his own insomnia and he knew it.

He tried to relax thinking of the time he had spent back in Karakura Town. He thought of class, and how he almost missed its boring monotony. He remembered the sewing club, his favourite pastime for years. He thought of Ichigo and how resolute he was in protecting his friends. He was rash, but Uryu had to admit that Ichigo's sensibilities were what made him unintentionally popular. People liked Ichigo and were drawn to him. His other friends, he thought of them too. Inoue and Chad, they were both such strange people and yet they definitely had a charm to them, Inoue in particular.

_She will be safe, as will Ichigo. No matter what happens to me they'll be fine. _

_And I'll be fine as well. _It was with that thought that he fell asleep.

He awoke some time later to sound of Szayel's call, and the words, "Let's go, boy. Lord Aizen wants to see you."

Uryu shuddered when he heard that, pushing himself out of bed nonetheless. Szayel grabbed him by the arm and dragged him outside. When Uryu attempted to move against him, Szayel revealed his sword and held it close to Uryu's throat. It was an unnecessary threat. Uryu calmed down and eventually Szayel let go of his arm.

"There's a good boy," Szayel provoked, patting Uryu on the head with his gloved hand. Uryu paid no attention to it. He found Szayel's taunting was a lot less effective if you didn't respond. That didn't stop him from hating him. The arrancar treated him like he was an animal. _How ironic, _he thought, trying to envision Szayel's true form. He was hideous enough in just personality; Uryu couldn't imagine how disgusting his actual body would look.

"Doing your own work for a change, I'm surprised." Uryu snapped. "Where's Enire?"

"Don't worry about him. Careful you don't slit your tongue. You'll see an early grave that way." Szayel chuckled.

The walk to Aizen's meeting room was a quiet one. No noise came from the halls of the science division. The stranger aspect was that Uryu found that he couldn't sense any reiatsu coming from any of the rooms in Szayel's section. They were all sealed off, from sound and from spirit particles. It was a good thing the throne room was so huge. Neither Szayel nor Aizen would be able to seal it completely.

As they arrived at the destination, Szayel opened the door for him, mockingly. "Have fun!" He said before Uryu could enter. The meeting room wasn't as grand as Uryu had expected it to be. Its walls were stark, like every other room in Las Noches and had a long table in the middle. Aizen sat in one of the centre seats, directly opposite where Uryu was standing.

"Welcome, Mr. Ishida. I don't believe we've met prior to this, but I imagine you know who I am." Aizen said. He had a mild smile on his face and looked legitimately pleased to see Uryu. Uryu glared back, not sure how to take his hospitality. His reiatsu was immense. Uryu was intimidated just standing across the table from him. He also had to be wary that everything the man said was a lie. He had learned that at Soul Society, when he revealed how much he had hidden from his friends. Uryu doubted Aizen ever saw them that way. They were just tools, like Uryu was now.

"Please, take a seat. I didn't have you brought here to argue." Aizen offered, almost royally. He made small gesture with his hand to indicate where he wanted Uryu to sit. Uryu did as the man said, and sat reluctantly in that chair. "Thank you for meeting with me. Would you like anything to drink?"

"No thank you. I'm not thirsty." Uryu wouldn't be outright defiant, but he would refuse the shinigami's curtsey.

"I see. I hope you don't mind if I take something for myself then." Aizen called over a hollow who had been hovering around the width of the table and asked for a glass of water. The hollow left the room and came back with a jug of water and a crystal glass. The waiter poured the liquid for Aizen, then left for the same place he was previously standing. Aizen nodded towards the hollow after he took a small sip. The hollow seemed to take that well. "How's your father been these days? Healthy, I hope."

_That's none of your business. _

"I wouldn't know. I've been trapped here a week." Uryu said without a change in his tone. He was strictly business with this man. He wouldn't raise his voice to show anger and he certainly wouldn't lower it to cower.

"Ah, yes, you're right. You'll have to forgive me for asking such a silly question." Aizen moved back into his seat. It was a small move, but with so few movements to mark his emotions, Uryu presumed it showed that Aizen was disappointed or maybe _offended_ with his reply. "You've been spending time with Miss Inoue, I understand."

Uryu swallowed before speaking. He didn't want to say anything rash. "Yes, I had a discussion with her about her abduction. I wanted to compare hers to mine."

"How inquisitive of you, you're quite the boy detective. Have you uncovered any patterns in my behaviour?" Aizen chuckled. This one was easy to decipher. _I know what you're doing and it's not going to work. _

"None so far. You have a peculiar repertoire of responses. It's hard to anticipate your actions or that of your army." Uryu replied, deciding to be a little cheeky with his response. There was no sense in hiding what he was doing, Szayel must have bugged his room likehe had thought. He was delighted he had taken the effort to write Orihime's escape plan down. "You do seem to enjoy kidnapping children though."

Aizen laughed. "You and your friends are hardly children. And I'd like to think that you would assist me anyway, if you understood what I'm doing."

Uryu wanted to say that he'd die before he'd work alongside monsters and hollows, but then realized that could actually happen. Instead he said, "You're right, I don't think anyone's understood that. What _are _you doing?"

"Wouldn't you rather ask what you're doing here?" Aizen leaned in on top of his hands, looking directly at Uryu. "And before you say that you already know, that wasn't my question. What are you doing here, in this room, Mr. Ishida?"

Uryu refused to reply. He had been curious but wanted to find out the old fashioned way, waiting for the event to initiate. Still, he wasn't going to beg Aizen for answers. After a few seconds, Aizen raised an eyebrow like a tiny shrug.

"I brought you here so you could order your last meal as a human being." He leaned back into his chair, then raised a hand to call the waiter over. "Please, take Mr. Ishida's order."

He wanted to say that he wasn't hungry, before firing an arrow right into Aizen's head. He didn't, obviously. He reacted in a way that showed none of the fear, depression and anger that he actually felt.

"Thank you. I was wondering if I'd die hungry. I'll have a Mackeral miso stew, preferably homemade." Uryu wondered if hollows knew what mackerel was, or if they could have gotten any of it from a can to begin with. They were more likely to jump into a lake than attempt to carefully open a metal tin. "I'd also like a glass of water." Aizen appeared content with his order.

"I think we can handle that, can't we?" Aizen turned toward his waiter.

"Absolutely, sir. Your guest's dinner will be ready in half an hour." The waiter said, without ever looking at Uryu. The hollow left the room again.

Aizen didn't said much in the interim time. He mentioned wanting to get to know Uryu better, but Uryu never gave him a proper response. His replies consisted of almost negatives and almost positive answers, since he had decided to give Aizen the same amount of information he had given him. They spent most of their time silent, while Uryu tried to avoid looking directly at Aizen. Aizen was relaxed and didn't stop making his half grin. At one point he said that he would have recommended the steak as Gin really seemed to like it. Uryu ignored the implications. Why did everything have to be a threat with this man?

As promised, exactly thirty minutes later he ran in with a gracious plate of miso stew, accompanied by a pair of chopsticks. Uryu stared at the plate, his eyes unbelieving. Szayel hadn't fed him much beyond a substance that roughly tasted like orange flavoured oatmeal. Uryu couldn't stand it. He had eaten it only because he wasn't sure if another meal would come. He wanted to eat it slowly, to show that he was barely interested in Aizen's food, but his stomach betrayed him, particularly after he had tasted it. It was impressive, one of the best miso stews he had ever eaten. His mother hadn't made it this good. He wouldn't tell Aizen that, nor show it on his face; although Aizen could probably tell by the way Uryu ate every morsel.

While he ate, Uryu tried to practice his Morse code technique. It didn't work. Aizen had had this room sealed off with Soul synthesized material, like Szayel had with his. In truth, he realized it was a bad idea to practice here too late. If Aizen caught the minute change in the absorption rate, Uryu's plan would be in the toilet. Aizen certainly didn't show it but that meant little with him. For all Uryu knew, the ex-shinigami already was aware of his plan from his earlier tests runs.

The plate was finished within twenty minutes of Uryu seeing the meal. The last three spoons had taken the longest to eat. They had finality to them. He could hear a voice telling him, _after this you're done. _He tried not to think about it as he chewed the fish and rice. It wasn't healthy to hear voices like that. Uryu was satisfied enough to have the food, even if it was from his enemy.

He pushed the plate aside when he was done, and thanked Aizen for the meal. Aizen responded impassively as he had with every other reply. Once the plate was taken away and the table cleaned, Aizen stood above his chair and looked to Uryu to do the same.

"It's about time that we leave, wouldn't you say?" Aizen said as he walked for the door. He held it open for Uryu as some false courtesy. Uryu got up and walked through the door, nearly forgetting to feign thank you. Aizen led him to the throne room. He walked with his head high and back straight. Uryu did the same. He wasn't going to look pitiful when he entered, he wanted that much at least.

The wide doors boomed open for Aizen and Uryu. Almost all the Espada were there already, waiting for them to arrive. Uryu counted them off, not knowing their rank. There were only eight Espada there, and he assumed only the same amount were alive. Gin and Tosen made a mandatory appearance, sitting on their smaller thrones.

_Chad, some congratulations are in order, _he thought with some satisfaction. Uryu hadn't seen any of these faces before, aside Szayel. He recognized a further two, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra whose descriptions he had heard from Orihime. They both appeared intimating in different ways, but no more than Aizen did. The Espada were an interesting group of characters. Some looked plain wacky, while others, like the old man and the woman looked like they would kill him if he breathed wrong. They were hushed for the most part. A few of them didn't quite understand their purpose there and appeared to be playing with their hands.

The room had been mostly stayed the design, aside from a blue ribbon going around the room. Uryu assumed that was to indicate his quincy nature, and would have felt proud if it didn't also suggest his death. It also wasn't the right shade of blue which disappointed Uryu more than anything else. As he took a step into the chamber, the arrancar cleared a path towards Aizen's chair. Uryu looked at Aizen, who simply cued him forward.

"They're doing this for you Mr. Ishida." Aizen crowed. "I need you near my throne." With a slight hesitation, Uryu moved into the path. His fists were loose, his gaze straight, unwavering. There was a metal ramp for him beneath Aizen's throne. The Hogyoku hovered far above it, coming from a pipe that led into the ground. He laid on the metal sheet and waited for the ritual to begin. His pulse, the code that would save his life, had started.

The energy was easier to take than he had envisioned. Everything in the room was built of spirit particles, with few restrictions put in place. It was as if Szayel, in his excitement to get the room prepared had forgotten to seal half of it and the most important part. Aizen's throne was now providing Uryu with ample spirit particles. Uryu had been sure that Szayel would have been too afraid to touch Aizen's seat. No matter what, that chair would have always been available to him.

Szayel was the one who approached. He was surprised. Despite the times the octava Espada had mocked him or threatened him, he assumed it would be Aizen to hold the blade in the end. Szayel looked blissful when Uryu saw his face. His smile had more madness in it than it usual did, trembling on his face. He had done the message once by the time Szayel began speaking.

"Brothers and Sister, we are here to condemn his boy to our ranks. It is our duty to commemorate his death and his rebirth. Our Lord Aizen has given us the decree that he will become one of us. It is with my blade that his journey will begin, from hollow to adjuchas to arrancar. Do you do this willingly, Uryu Ishida?" Szayel spoke the words with as much soul as his body could muster. They were pronounced over dramatically, though they never had much meaning. Uryu waited in disgust. He had sent the message twice and yet he had seen no response. His father was taking a strange occasion to keep a grudge. Uryu wasn't sure he could manage a third time. All the energy he had gathered in himself would have to go somewhere soon. He could simply force it out, but that would alert the Aizen and his lackeys that he was trying to escape.

Szayel removed his Zanpakutou and pointed it at to Uryu's heart, keeping the blade an inch from his skin.

* * *

Isshin was yelling at him again.

"What are they doing, Ryuken? You said you had this planned out!" Isshin moaned. He pointed through the glass wall onto the scene below them. His son was being sacrificed to their lord. Aizen stood at the other end, smiling.

Ryuken had felt his son's distress call and had tried to help him.

_Death soon hit lights and guards. Death soon hit lights and guards._

Ryuken's arrows were useless. He could barely summon his bow. The objects in the room had had their spirit particles clamped shut. Isshin had tried his attacks as well, but his Getsugo Tensho fizzled out with so little energy to collect. Isshin had also attempted breaking the glass through sheer strength to a lesser effect, if that was possible. Nel didn't understand what was going on. She wanted to help, but was frightened by their panic. When Isshin had brought out his sword, Nel had tried simply using her fists out of the pent up adrenaline. She wasn't so excited now, standing far back from the two of them.

There had been a plan. Ryuken had wanted to get captured. It would save some time if Aizen underestimated them, dragging them along to where they kept the other prisoners. They would break out, remove any guards and extract their sons and their friend. His escape strategy after that was more unclear, but he imagined he could improvise something once they got there. They hadn't entered with anything concrete, so this was the best scheme he had come up with on short notice. The scene below definitely threw all of his ideas into the wind.

Ryuken glanced at Nel. She was standing in the corner of the room with her fingers in her ears. Isshin's voice was a distraction, a sign of frustration. He ignored it and walked towards the hollow. He pulled hands away from her head, before kneeling down and looking at her straight on.

"Nel, you have to turn back to your original form." Ryuken instructed. The child cocked her head up with uncertain eyes. "The glass has miniscule weak points that neither I nor Isshin are currently able to access. Your released form has an attack that can hit these points."

"Ryuhen, I don't have a release form. I'm too weak for one of those." The child replied. Ryuken continued to stare at her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You do, your adult form does. Nel, your Lanzador Verde is the only way we can escape here. Those words should mean something to you. Lanzedor Verde."

"My what? "Nel replied, confused. "I'm sorry, I'm just a very very pathetic arrancar. I've never ever heard of what you said."

Uryu's call came a third time.

_Death soon hit lights and guards._

Ryuken's patience was running thin. He tightened his grip on the girl's shoulder. "You have and you can. Pay attention to these words: Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. That is your name. You were the third Espada in Aizen's army. Your fraccion were Pesshe and Dondochakka." He insisted, his voice a little stronger than he had intended. Isshin was demanding to know what he was doing, his voice booming. It should have been obvious. He was trying to get them through that glass. It was the reason he had brought the girl in the first place. After that effort tolerating Nel, she couldn't even be useful when he needed her. "My son is about to die, and it's within your power to do something. Can't you understand that much?"

Ryuken and Isshin's combined frustration caused Nel to tremble.

"I said sorries! I would use the lanzey thing but I-I don't know who…" Her voice stalled. Ryuken looked close at her. Her eyes were staring in space as if a fuse had been lit. _She's getting it. _"I don't know who…"

The girl gasped before passing out. Ryuken let her body drop, waiting for something to happen. Her reiatsu didn't change. Nel lay there, her mind gone. Ryuken stood up and was ready to kick the hollow when he felt a hand latch on to his arm.

"Ryuken, it's too late now." Isshin said. He was no longer yelling. His voice was sympathetic. It had happened or was about to. No matter what, it seemed they wouldn't be there in time. He said that in so few words, it was almost impressive.

"I know," Ryuken replied. "He's been dead for a while." The quincy walked to the glass wall. His cigarettes had again somehow survived, so he took one, and watched the final moment of his son's life.

* * *

"Do you do this willingly, Uryu Ishida?" Szayel said again but with more emphasis. Someone behind him grumbled and made a coughing sound. The crowd was growing impatient. They had come for a violent killing, not some boy pushing for more time. Szayel leaned in and whispered, "You just have to say one word you pathetic, stupid child. You are not going to ruin this for me with a tantrum!"

A third time, Uryu had pushed for a third time. He was quietly panting a minute later, the message sent. Again, there was no reply, though Szayel was eagerly awaiting one. Uryu's eyes shot towards Inoue's room. The glass was one way, so all Uryu saw was the mirror. For his own sake, he assumed that she had made it out safely and was collecting Ichigo now.

"Do you do this willingly, Uryu Ishida!" Szayel kicked him in the ribs as he said it. Uryu groaned with each one. He stared at Szayel with as much distaste and hate as he could muster in simple movement of the eyes.

"No." This was the conclusion to his life. No, he would not get up again. No, he wouldn't return home. No, he would have never let them do this. _But Ryuken would._ The sword dug into his chest, the trigger fulfilled. It ripped past his rib cage, sliding right into Uryu's heart. Blood gathered at the wound.

"Your opinion doesn't count." Uryu could hear clapping following Szayel's voice. Aizen's voice came from the back in celebration, causing the Espada to roar in the approval. Uryu immediately regretted leaving Szayel behind an adoring crowd. He chuckled to himself, coughing up some blood. When they brought him back, he would make sure this was the last time anyone would clap for Szayel.

* * *

End of Part 1.


	11. No Goodbyes

_Author's Note: Well. This certainly isn't early September. Better late than never? So, here's the start of the Part 2. Originally I had intended Chapter 11 and 12 to be one long 37 paged chapter, but thought better of it and split it in two for thematic reasons. It's also the reason I waited till both chapters were done before posting. Anyway, it's here now for all of you to read.  
_

_**TL;DR I hope you enjoy Chapter 11**_

**Part 2 - Never Look Back**

**Chapter 11: No Goodbyes**

Uryu's death came and past. It was a flash, one push of the sword. There had immediately been a roar of spiritual energy. Their reiatsu moved like a mad song, the notes rising and dropping at random intervals, the tempo changing, the pitch was every sound at once; there was no rhythm or logic to how it went. It was an explosive way to celebrate. The song was stopped by Aizen, as he called his Espada together to give some kind of speech. The Espada went silent in all forms and listened to whatever he had to say. This lasted ten minutes, after which, Szayel had another arrancar pick up Uryu's body and carry him away somewhere. The rest of the Espada followed.

Ryuken couldn't hear what happened. He didn't know if his son had parting words or the wretched announcement Aizen gaze. He watched for signs of life or hope, and at best found madness. Isshin didn't fare much better. He was misty-eyed, and stood behind the glass with a fist clenched. He beat the screen with his fist as they exited, crying something Ryuken's mind filtered out. When his cigarette was done, he walked over to the bed and lay down. Nel was still passed out on the floor.

"Everything's going to be okay, Ryuken. Death isn't the end. We're all going to get out of this fine," Isshin yelled. It was a nice show of bravado, though Isshin couldn't hide the lines of worry in his face. "Let's take some time out. We should think of a plan before we do anything."

Isshin wasn't speaking to anyone in particular and seemed to be yelling at the ceiling. Ryuken didn't react. He tried to look at Isshin in mild agreement that that was exactly what he wanted to do next. His body just didn't want to move. It took ten or so minutes of silence before Isshin sat down. He placed his zanpakutou against the glass, before he lay against it.

"This is only a minor setback. We'll have both of our sons in no time," Isshin announced, not as fiercely this time. "I'll keep watch for now. You can relax for a bit."

It didn't take long for Ryuken to fall asleep. He hadn't slept since they arrived in Hueco Mundo, a time which felt like days. But, he never really felt tired until now. He felt the weariness seep in once the sword cut into Uryu's heart. He didn't want to stand, or even sit up. He was gone seconds after he closed his eyes.

* * *

The lights in Ryuken's office were off. Not intentionally, Ryuken just hadn't bothered to turn them on. He was feeling particularly lethargic today. He had a cigarette in his hand, ready to be lit, but he never reached for his lighter. He looked at it as if it was a curiosity, questioning why he took the cancer stick to his lips every day. It was a momentary phase. He'd smoke it when he felt like it. Until then he was satisfied to listen to ceiling fan spin and let its wind blow against his hair. On days like these, it seemed all he ever paid attention to was the wind.

After a few minutes of fiddling with it in his hands, Ryuken returned the cigarette to its pack. He took his glasses off, placing them neatly on his desk, and then inclined in his chair. There were still a few hours left until he could leave, and he hadn't touched any of the paperwork. That was fine. He would let it pile up for a while. He was sure no one expected him to be efficient today. His secretary had put most of his calls on hold. The doctors avoided him as well. Their heads would be down when he walked through the halls, the extent of conversation being, 'I'm so sorry for your loss.' He'd nod, mumble a thank you, then continue down the hall.

Most of them questioned why he was even there. They didn't ask him directly, but Ryuken could hear them mumble just outside his door.

_I thought he'd take today off._

_Come on, Ishida, missing a day at work? He'd come even if it was _his _funeral._

_I heard they were estranged anyway. Like, they haven't talked in years. _

_Whatever, it's not like it bothered him. Did you see him this morning? It's like it never even happened._

It was good to hear he had supportive employees. It was fine. As long as it didn't impact their work they could say what they wanted. Ryuken tried to clear his mind, get all of this nonsense out of his head. He shouldn't be concerning himself with gossip. He glanced at the paperwork on his desk. It was mindless, tedious work. It was all budget management, legal check-ups, and proposals needing approval. A lot of it was garbage. Ryuken picked up the first sheet to see if it was anything worth his time. It turned out to be a request from the oncology department. They wanted an increase in funds (who didn't?) so that they could buy a few tablet PCs. The request detailed their use and why they were necessary, all the while trying to impress him with phrases like 'technologically irresponsible to overlook' and 'beneficial to all potential recipients'. He had enough. He put the paper aside in a pile he labelled 'irrelevant'.

He was about to look at the second form when he heard a knock at the door. Immediately, Ryuken sat up straight and placed his hands on his desk. He wasn't supposed to have any appointments today. He told his secretary to shoo everyone else away.

"Hey, can I come in?" A voice called from the other side.

Ryuken relaxed. It was Isshin.

"You might as well," He replied coolly.

Isshin opened the door, revealing he was wearing a black suit with his hair slicked back.

"I am very sorry for your loss," Isshin said at once, slightly bowing his head.

"Thank you," Ryuken said, for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day. "Though, I did tell my secretary not to let anyone through."

Isshin made a knowing grin. "She tried, but I ignored her."

"Right."

Ryuken tried to come up with a wittier response, but that was all that came out. The room went quiet for a few seconds, as he tried to gather his thoughts. He was met with further silence. After a few minutes he had had enough. "So, is that all you came to say?" Ryuken said, clearing his throat.

"Yeah, I didn't really think this out," Isshin chuckled. Ryuken felt irritated by Isshin's nonchalance. He picked up his glasses and slid them carefully onto his face, his look grim.

"What are you doing here, Isshin?"

Isshin pulled out a chair from the wall and sat down. "I wanted to see how you're doing, that's all."

Ryuken took out his pack of cigarettes and placed it on the table. He reached into his other pocket and grabbed his lighter, putting on the table beside the cigarettes. He wanted to light one right there, but he held off, staring them down. His eyes looked up at Isshin, who was waiting for some kind of response.

"Dreadful." Ryuken replied. He didn't want to say something spiteful, but it came out anyway. "My father's dead. What did you expect?"

His father had passed away pitifully. A last stand against hollows. What kind of seventy-five year old man fought the dead. It was stupid of him, ridiculous. Absurd. At least it provided for a good allegory, the old man fighting death to his last moment. It was as if he was trying to create his own legend, like the stories he told Ryuken as a boy, and now fed to Uryu. And the boy would never be able to forget it. Soken had died right in front of Uryu's eyes, scarring his son for the rest of his life. What did his father hope to achieve? He should have known the Shinigami wouldn't arrive on time. They had never defended Quincies before, they weren't about to start with a single old man. There was no sense to it at all.

Soken accomplished one thing with Uryu in this. He had cemented the Quincy myth. He had seared the image of a Quincy fighting to their death against the hollow, perhaps even against the Shinigami. He had been sure before, Uryu could grow out of wanting to be Quincy. He would need a job and a proper education at some point, and there would be little time to be a superhero. Ryuken didn't know anymore, and worried that his father's death would create more trouble in the future.

"Nothing special," Isshin half-grinned. "I thought we could talk. We haven't done that in a while."

Ryuken opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. Isshin didn't deserve it. Once more, the quiet set in. Isshin tried to keep up a faint smile, but Ryuken could see it fade as time went on. Neither liked the silence, but it was usual outcome to their conversations, at least in the last few years. Ryuken could recall a time when they had spoken more openly. They had talked about their futures, their jobs, and sometimes their families, when Isshin could work it out of Ryuken. But now there wasn't much to say. Ryuken didn't want to talk about his personal life, and to be honest he didn't want to hear about Isshin's. Part of him didn't even want to see Isshin anymore. His family had enough interaction with the dead.

"You can smoke if you want. Don't hold off for my sake," Isshin said, eyeing the pack on Ryuken's desk. With one hand, Ryuken swiped the lighter and cigarette box from his counter, then dropped them in the desk drawer.

"I can assure you, it's not for your sake." Ryuken said, trying not to glance at the desk drawer. Now that Isshin had mentioned it, he did want a cigarette, but he knew it wasn't worth his time. This was his addiction calling. It would be his choice when he finally lit one, not a compulsion. "They're not working anyway."

"Not working? If you're smoking them right there shouldn't be a problem," Isshin said. He brought two fingers to his lips, breathed in, and then pretended to blow smoke ring. He seemed proud of his pose.

"I don't smoke because I think it's cool. They help me relax when I need to," Ryuken muttered, briefly giving Isshin a sharp look. "It's just – I've tried and they don't do anything. I'm trying to control myself."

Ryuken said the last part quieter than the rest, though he wasn't sure why he said it in the first place. Usually, he would prepare every word before he said it. Those ones came out on their own.

"If you're so on edge, why did you come to work?" Isshin asked, leaning back in his chair. His arm rested on top of the backrest. He seemed on the verge of tipping the front legs of his chair into the air.

"One death doesn't mean the world has to stop. Besides, this work will have to be done eventually. If I take the day off it will still be here tomorrow," Ryuken answered and placed his hand on top of the large pile of paper in the centre of his desk. He didn't want to go through the tedium of doing it, but it was his responsibility. He couldn't abandon it so readily. "Speaking of which, I should get back to it. You can-"

"Doesn't look all that important," Isshin said, swiping a sheet of paper off of Ryuken's desk. "How much have you done so far?"

"Give that back." Ryuken reached over the counter and tore the document from Isshin's hands. His work had sensitive information pertaining to the hospital. It would be a legal concern if Isshin read too much of it. He put the paper back on the top of the pile with the rest of it. "I don't question how you do your job. Stick your nose out of mine."

"Ryuken, I'm trying to help you. We haven't had an easy conversation since your wife died, and that was eight years ago," Isshin replied, sitting up straight, his voice no longer relaxed. "To be honest, I don't know if you've talked to anyone else either."

The silence returned. Ryuken gathered his thoughts, working on different responses. He rejected the first three outright, all created from spite. The fourth reply wasn't accurate in what he was trying to convey. The fifth one worked.

"This is neither the time nor the place. You're right, it's been a while, but there's nothing we can do about it." Ryuken said and gave Isshin a plain look. Isshin shot a disappointed look back. Ryuken ignored it. He grabbed the form he had pushed aside, and placed it in front of him, followed by a blue pen. "If you don't mind I do have work to finish. We'll talk some other time Kurosaki, perhaps after the funeral."

Isshin nodded.

"Yeah, I hope so." He stood up and walked to the door, but hesitated before leaving.

"Hold on, nearly forgot," Isshin said, turning back to Ryuken. "How's Uryu taking it? Him and your Dad, they were close weren't they?"

Ryuken didn't look up. He continued looking for places to sign and things he needed to check off. When Isshin didn't take that as his cue to go, he said, "Goodbye Kurosaki."

Before Isshin could leave, Ryuken's phone rang. He sighed and took the phone from its dock. Isshin peered over to watch him. Ryuken gestured for him to leave already. To his credit Isshin opened the door, but stopped before exiting. There was someone in his way. He tried to move around them. The person made no effort to do the same.

"Hello, Mr. Ishida? There's a Mrs. Jaeger here to see you," His secretary said quickly. She pronounced the name Jaeger with some difficulty.

"I said I didn't want to see anyone today," Ryuken asserted. He tried to twist his head so he could see what was blocking Isshin's way. "Did you already let her through?"

"I tried to stop her!" She said, incensed. "She's an old woman, and she said it was important. And quick. If she's not out in five minutes, I'll call security myself."

"That won't be necessary," Ryuken sighed. "I'll deal with her. Thank you, Ms. Ito." He hung up the phone , slamming it a little harder than he'd like. He turned to Isshin who had already moved out of the woman's way. Mrs. Jaeger had pure white hair, as if she had had it even in her youth, and her face was covered in wrinkles. The woman appeared no younger than sixty, possibly around his father's age, and moved with a methodical gait. She wore a brown hoodie that had a zipper going up the middle, and had the word 'love' printed across the centre in English. Her clothes were modern and looked a little too youthful for her age. Ryuken was used to seeing his father keep the same clothes for thirty years, refusing to buy so much as a shirt since he was forty-five.

In her right hand she carried a small bouquet of white lilies. Mrs. Jaeger nodded to Isshin as she moved past him. Ryuken tapped a finger on his desk, not sure what to make of the situation.

"I would like to pay my condolences to Mr. Ishida," Mrs. Jaegar said with a slight accent and placed the bouquet on Ryuken's desk. "It's not much, but it will have to do." She continued, looking at the flowers.

Ryuken gave his standard response. "Thank you, though I think it would too be put to better use if you gave it at the funeral. If you waited until then-"

"Oh, I won't be around that long. My son is in Tokyo on business, and I thought I'd stop by to say a few words," Mrs. Jaegar interrupted.

"I see. Then thank you for taking the effort." Ryuken said, eyeing Isshin in the background. He needed to get out. This was an especially private matter that he shouldn't watch. Instead, he stood against the far wall, with a smug look on his face. He barely noticed when the woman picked up his family portrait from his desk.

"Your father told me a lot about you. You two had quite the interesting life. I doubt any of it was easy, but I hope you learned to appreciate him. He was certainly proud of you," she said as she studied the portrait. Ryuken was about to ask for it back, when she put it down anyway. "Your wife was very beautiful. It's such a shame what happened to her."

"I'm sorry, but how did you know my father?" Ryuken said. "I didn't know he was close to any Europeans, and he's never mentioned you before."

The woman made a small smile. "Well, there were only so many Quincy your father could confide in. I just happened to be the one he chose."

Ryuken immediately checked for any reiatsu coming from the woman. While there hadn't been when she entered the room, bits of spiritual energy leaked from her body as if to prove her claim. Still, Ryuken couldn't get a sense for how powerful she was glanced between the woman and Isshin. Isshin was studying Mrs. Jaegar for the same signs Ryuken was. When he caught Ryuken's gaze he shrugged. He could tell about as much as Ryuken could.

"Kurosaki, I'd like to talk to this woman alone."

"No, the Shinigami can stay. Without any powers, he doesn't pose a threat," Mrs. Jaeger said, her voice louder and more assertive before. Her lips made a teasing smile as she talked. "Besides, it's about time that a Shinigami paid attention to Quincy affairs."

"You heard the lady," Isshin replied. "I'll just hang here like a wallflower."

"Fine. Let's stop playing these games. Who are you, and what do you want?" Ryuken frowned. He released some of his own spiritual energy to the same level as hers, to make sure she understood that he wasn't going to react well to any kind of intimidation.

"Don't think otherwise, part of the reason I'm here is to say goodbye to Soken."

"And the other part?" Ryuken asked impatiently.

"Nadia."

Ryuken reclined back into his chair. He looked away from her, gathering his thoughts. He would have been adverse saying anything about the girl on normal circumstances. Isshin standing the corner made it much harder.

"So, you're her grandmother." It wasn't a question. Once she had announced she was a Quincy, it quickly narrowed down who she was. Ryuken had thought that most of the European ones had died out, but he supposed the some remnants of the older generation still lingered. He would have guessed it earlier had her surname been the same as Nadia's.

"Right on, bucko. I trained that prodigy since she was four years old," Mrs. Jaeger said, with a slight chuckle. "I just wanted to know something for sure." She paused and her face slowly became sombre. Ryuken imagined she was putting together the words in her head, rolling around different collections of words. For whatever reason, she chose the most blunt one. "Did you kill her?"

Ryuken was prepared to answer the question. It was her family. They had a right to know. He eyed Isshin. The ex-shinigami seemed passive, only watching like he said he would. Ryuken hoped Isshin had no idea what was going on and wouldn't take his response at face value. He told her he did and when she asked why, he explained the circumstances in as simply as he could. He was only acting as a Quincy. Once she had become a hollow, it was his responsibility to eliminate her. The woman was calm for the most part, as if his explanation only confirmed what she already knew. At the end of it she nodded her head, and turned to Isshin.

"I hope you heard that Shinigami," She declared. She sounded indignant, offended more by Isshin than the actual man responsible for the deed. "I don't hold any particular resentment towards you, but this is what your people have done to us. They took all responsibility for purging hollows and defending the people, and yet you let us die when they attack. Soken and Nadia are only the most recent ones. My daughter and son-in-law were victims too." Mrs. Jaeger made a deep breath, and let her appearance soften for her last comment. "Next time you get in touch with your superiors, please, let them know I said that."

Isshin stayed silent for a moment, then smiled and raised his arms into the air. "Sure, if I see them, but to be honest, I don't think I'll be seeing them any time soon. And I don't think they'll want to see me."

"I know your type. You won't stay out of the fray forever, and when you do, remember what I said," she said and made the same tiny smile she had made before.

Ryuken was enraged. This woman used his father's death and her own granddaughter's death so that she could make a useless diatribe against the Shinigami. He wanted her out of his office as fast as possible. He released a little more of his spiritual pressure to show his disapproval, though the woman matched him instantaneously.

"Are we done here?" Ryuken asked as he tapped a finger on his desk. "I've clarified what you asked. Now I need to get back to work."

"Yes, I think we're about done here. Thank you for your time, Mr. Ishida, and do send my regards to little Uryu. He must be bawling his eyes out with grief." Mrs. Jaeger said, then imitated a bow and walked right out the door. Once her spiritual pressure disappeared, Ryuken relaxed and suppressed his own confident that she was finally gone.

That left only him and Isshin. Isshin shot him a look of concern and tried to approach his desk.

"I-"

"You should have left when I told you to,"

"So we're just going to ignore what you said? Ryuken, you admitted to killing a young girl." Isshin said, as he tried to level his voice as not to sound aggressive. "Doing your job as a Quincy. We both know you don't actually believe that. "

"I don't want to have this conversation." Ryuken said, picking up his pen and turning back to the page in front of him.

"Then what do you want to talk about? There's the one we didn't finish, " Isshin put his hands on the other side of the counter and leaned towards Ryuken. "Your father's dead and you've got a kid at home who needs your attention. Working like this isn't going to make that fact go away!"

"Get out of my office." Ryuken murmured just loud enough that Isshin could hear. His voice was a perfect neutral, with just enough force. "Or, I'll force you out myself."

Isshin nodded, and gradually moved away from the desk. He took a breath before saying anything. "I got you. We'll talk some other time." Ryuken heard him walk straight out of the room.

Ryuken continued to work until he had only a few forms left to fill. The pile was on the right side of his desk, filled with blue ink that marked approval, disapproval, and anecdotes necessary to finish the job. With only a few left, he put his pen down and looked at the massive pile of useless paper placed in front of him. He wanted to kick it over. He wanted to grab it, toss it across the room at that woman, at his secretary, maybe even at Isshin.

Needless to say he didn't. He opened his drawer and saw the pack of cigarettes lying there. He picked it up along with the lighter. He quickly prepared a cigarette, holding it between his fingers and lips, as he brought the lighter's flame to its end. He inhaled a breath slowly and released it into the air. For the first time he noticed the rings the smoke made, and watched them rise to the ceiling. Watching these brought him more relaxation than the cigarettes did.

After a few minutes of nothing, the same headache and silent aggravation, he dumped it into the ashtray and then stuffed the rest back into the drawer. He picked up his pen and spent the rest of the day writing.

* * *

Ryuken awoke to find Isshin punching him. Ryuken grabbed Isshin's wrist as soon as he became conscious and flipped him onto the ground. Ryuken stepped out of bed and made a kick that stopped just in front of Isshin's face. Isshin started laughing.

"Glad to see you're up!" He said as climbed off the ground. He brushed some dust off his clothes with his fingers then stood proud beside Ryuken.

"Has anyone told you that your wakeup call is atrocious?" Ryuken said.

"My kids tell me that all the time."

"Maybe you should listen to them." Ryuken used the ball of his hand to wipe the grain from his eyes, and was surprised to find that he cheeks were wet. He must have cried during his sleep, unless Isshin had been carefully dripping water onto him. He felt embarrassed and tried to hide it. He wiped his cheeks with his hands as consciously as he could. Isshin didn't look like he noticed anything, and Ryuken was glad to have kept it that way. He sat back down on the bed once he had stretched his arms and legs.

"Why'd you wake me up?" Ryuken asked, though he was happy to be awake. His dream had become far too melodramatic. He understood why his mind went to such a dark time in his life, but he didn't want to linger there any longer.

"Look at Nel," Isshin said with a grin. Ryuken had almost forgotten about her. He looked over to where Nel had collapsed, and found a different creature there instead. It was an adult woman, her body buxom and tall. She was curled up in ball, her long green hair covering her back and her feet. The simple gown Nel had worn ripped in half so that half of it look like a tank top, while the bottom half worked as a skirt. The skull on her forehead was no longer cartoonish, and instead looked like a flattened ram's skull. She didn't seem unconscious, just asleep. As he studied the changes, she stretched out and turned over, revealing the number three tattooed on her back. Ryuken felt a surge of confidence.

"When did she transform?" Ryuken said. His tone was curious, as he glanced back to Isshin to give some kind of report.

"You can't really tell time in here, but I'd say about thirty minutes. It was immediate too. Once the transformation started, there was a quick light show, and then she came back all grown up," Isshin answered. Ryuken felt like a doctor again as he examined Nel (or Neliel he supposed) from afar. It had been years since he had done any hands-on medical work. Hospital director meant he was an administrator and liaison, and rarely interacted with any patients. He imagined this was nothing new for Isshin. His clinic had no shortage of patients.

"Do you know what provoked it?" Ryuken shot back. Isshin hesitated before responding.

"I knocked on her head with the end of my sword." Isshin explained. Ryuken did a double take, incredulous.

"Don't kid with me, we don't have the time." Ryuken responded, scowling at Isshin.

"That's exactly how it happened. I checked if she was conscious a couple hours ago, and since her breathing patterns normalized, I knew she was asleep. So, a few minutes ago I bonked her head with Engetsu to see if she'd wake up." Isshin chuckled. "See, my wakeup calls are good for something after all."

Ryuken kept scowling.

"For my sanity's sake, I'm going to assume what you did just helped the process along." Ryuken said, turning back to Nel's sleeping form. "It was the prompts that made her faint in the first place."

She tossed around a bit and moved a few of her limbs to get more comfortable. Ryuken took it as a sign that she was starting to wake up. This was an opportunity. He didn't have any work to return to, or any bill of efficiency to uphold. Those were disregarded the moment he was trapped in Las Noches. Escape was the first priority. Once he was out, he had might as well finish the job he started. Even if Uryu was dead, that didn't mean he was beyond saving.

Ryuken needed to think pragmatically. Assuming they didn't cut off his soul chain on the spot, there was still time before his soul chain corroded. Since they were in a realm that was composed entire of spirit particles, it would speed up the process as fragments of the chain would dissolve to energy to help build the environment. If he was lucky, Ryuken had about a day to put Uryu's soul back in his body. The one saving grace was that he didn't have worry about the body decomposing. Hueco Mundo didn't have bacteria to break down a human corpse and body function wouldn't deteriorate so long as the soul remained intact.

If they did cut off the chain, he didn't really have a solution. It would produce a weaker hollow, but if they did, that was it. Uryu would be dead and soon after he would be a hollow. The best Ryuken could come with was finding the Inoue girl before the damage was irreparable.

A to-do list came together in his head. He was going to need to find Uryu or Inoue first. The hope was that if he found Uryu quickly, he could do most of the healing and 'repairs' on his own and Isshin could focus on the rest of the children. If he found Inoue before Uryu, he could convince her to heal Uryu even after a point of no return. Ryuken had limited knowledge of how Inoue's abilities worked beyond what he had observed. From what he saw, she could, given the time, conceivably bring someone back from the dead. The idea troubled him, that anyone should have the power to bring the dead back to life, but he decided he would use it to his advantage now and contemplate it later. Much later. Now wasn't the time to have a crisis of philosophy. They weren't just killing his son, they were turning him into a monster. That was inexcusable.

He checked for Sado's reiatsu and sensed it moving somewhere on the other end of the throne room. It didn't wane at any point, though, it was a little higher than he remembered it being. However he achieved increasing his reiatsu since they arrived, the boy seemed to be handling himself well. Sado could be put out of mind for now.

It took him a few seconds to recall that Ichigo was here too. He put that boy aside as well. Until Uryu was secure, that was Isshin's priority, not his.

Nel made one grand stretch, signalling that she was finally awake. Ryuken and Isshin walked toward her slowly as she stood up and looked at her surroundings for the first time. Her zanpakuto arrived and was held in rope around her hip. Once she saw them, Nel instinctively grabbed the hilt of her zanpakuto.

"Nel? Nelliel? Do you know who I am?" Ryuken asked and moved his arms away from his body in an attempt to appear non-threatening.

It took her a moment to respond. "Yes."

"Can you say my name?"

"You're that jerk, Ryuken."

Ryuken sighed, but continued regardless. "Good, because I need to ask you a favour."


	12. We All Run Past The Exit

_Author's Note: Direct continuation of Chapter 11. Hope I still have some readers. Please remember that I adore and appreciate most reviews, even negative ones. _

Here's Chapter 12, Enjoy.

**Chapter 12: We All Run Past The Exit**

"I refuse." Nelliel said with distaste as soon as Ryuken posed the request. She became composed, quickly washing away the anxiety that had overcome her. It looked to be her normal state. Standing with her arms crossed and her sword tucked away, she was more distant than her younger self. Her voice was confident and no longer had a lisp. All semblances of childhood had vanished. As far as Ryuken could tell she didn't seem angry with him. From her glare, it appeared as if she was rejecting him on principle.

"I haven't asked you the favour yet," Ryuken protested. He dropped his hands once Nelliel appeared calm and took a step closer.

"It doesn't matter what it is. I don't want to do you a favour. You dragged me around and hurt my fraccion." She replied, holding her ground "Honestly, my instincts are telling me I should have retaliated seconds ago, so consider the fact that I'm still talking to you a favour in itself."

"I appreciate the restraint."

"You'll see more of it if you keep your distance."

Ryuken moved back to his previous spot. Isshin shook his head.

"We're trying to rescue our sons and their friends, and we thought that was the only way to separate you from your fraccion. We needed your help but didn't want them to get involved. You know how this place is. If they had followed us here was a good chance they would have gotten killed." Isshin said. He emphasized 'we' with a sarcastic slant. Nelliel looked sceptical.

"You wasted your chance then. It's a little too late to tell me this plan now."

"We didn't want to risk Aizen overhearing. It's bad enough he can track us, if he knew what we were up to, it wouldn't have worked."

Nelliel considered this for a moment and then nodded. "I'll do one favour. Then I'm going back to find Pesche and Dondochakka so we can leave."

"That'll work." Isshin said. "See Ryuken, a little communication goes a long way." He looked over at Ryuken to see if he had any objections. Ryuken made none. It seemed that while Ryuken was napping, Isshin had taken the time to piece together Ryuken's scheme. Ryuken was a little annoyed that Isshin had explained their strategy, since it was obvious the room was bugged. Whoever was responsible for surveillance now knew that they were exactly where they wanted to be. Regardless, he made an effort to look satisfied. At least she wasn't threatening him anymore.

"I'll put it simply. We need you to break down the door," Ryuken said. Nelliel waited for him to continue. She balked when he didn't add anything.

"What, that's it?" Nelliel looked confused.

"Believe me, I wouldn't ask you unless it was necessary. Both of our abilities have been negated. You're the only one they couldn't prepare for," Ryuken replied.

She muttered something to herself and then nodded, apparently coming to an understanding. "How do you want me to do this? It can't be as simple as just kicking the door down."

Ryuken repeated the same process he had yelled at her child self a few hours earlier. It all relied on her Lanzedor Verde. He would have preferred to written it on a card so he didn't have to say it aloud, but they had already revealed too much. If Aizen's forces were paying attention, the arrancar would already be making arrangements to keep them in their cell permanently. "Strike the faults with that attack, and quickly. Now that we've explained our strategy where everyone can hear, they're going to send arrancar to keep us inside."

"This isn't going to work if we have a time limit," Nelliel said and started to draw her zanpakutou. "Not unless one of you wants to fight me first."

Isshin and Ryuken immediately took another step back.

"Hey, I thought we had a deal." Isshin said. He jokingly put his hands back up in the air.

"We do, I meant I can't do the attack unless someone fights me first," she added, lowering her sword. "I tried to access my ressurecion while you were explaining things. I can barely draw energy from that form. It's got to be this transformation. My body hasn't warmed up yet," She explained. "I need a couple minutes of combat to get everything in working order. It shouldn't take any longer than that."

Ryuken and Isshin relaxed and then looked to each other. Ryuken didn't want to waste any time, but he wasn't sure how the anatomy of an arrancar worked. If all she needed was adrenaline, he could think of more efficient ways of producing it. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to reason that out. Nelliel said she needed a short fight and that would allow them to continue. They could provide that much.

"Isshin, I believe that was your call." Ryuken said. He certainly couldn't fight her. As much as he hated to admit it, without his Quincy abilities he was nothing but agility. In a small room against the previous third rank Espada, he would be like a fly fighting goliath. He was also still a little peeved at Isshin's wake-up call.

"Right," Isshin grumbled. He grabbed Engetsu from the wall, and shifted into a fighting stance. Nelliel responded in kind, readying her sword, though only barely changing her stance. She held her zanpakuto with one hand at waist level. The other hand was at her side. Her weight was more or less split evenly between her legs as she stood up straight, her knees slightly bent. She looked elegant in a way. Ryuken noticed Isshin was smiling. He must have seen it as well.

"Don't go easy on me. I need the practice."

"That won't be hard, Shinigami."

The battle lasted two minutes, at the longest. They managed to have three rounds, all of which consisted of Nelliel pushing Isshin back until he was at the edge of the room, then going for a final blow which Isshin would barely manage to dodge. Nevertheless he was either on the floor or leaning against the glass with sweat pouring down his face by end of each round. Nelliel had access to all of her strength with her sword, while Isshin had none. He had his original speed and agility, just nothing that would be able to repel her attacks. If he tried to block, he would be knocked down.

Her somewhat unique fighting style added to the difficulty. Neither Ryuken nor Isshin could understand her pattern of attack, and so she was unpredictable. Isshin had started to get used to her style by the third round and evaded most of her attacks. By then, however, she had regained most of her strength so cornering Isshin didn't take long. Then it was just a matter of getting in one attack.

With a thump, Isshin was on the ground for the second time. Nelliel's sword hovered a few inches away from his throat. She sheathed it sword, satisfied.

"I think you've had enough humiliation for one day," she said, and reached out a hand for Isshin to grasp onto. Isshin took the offer and she brought him to his feet. "Besides, I'm ready."

Nelliel turned to the door. Ryuken walked to the other end of the room to stand beside Isshin.

"It's good to see someone remind you that you aren't invincible," Ryuken whispered.

"Shut up," Isshin lightly elbowed Ryuken. "It's not like you would have fared any better."

"That was my point," Ryuken replied. He brought his attention back to Nelliel, who stood ahead of them, a few feet from the door, with her arms stretched out in front of her, clutching her sword at both ends.

"You two had better get as close to the window as possible," she said. Her voice had the air of command. They did and she said. There was a release of an immense amount of reiatsu. It came out in a red glow around her body as the force her reiatsu exerted was almost physical. Ryuken was starting to feel a literal pressure on his body. Where she held her zapakutou, he saw a pink tinge come from the sword.

_This is going to be huge. _He edged further towards the window, and let his hands feel the glass for a place to grip.

"Declare, Gamuza."

Her sword became brighter and brighter, until it illuminated the room. From it erupted a torrent of red light that swarmed around her. The light was like water in a storm, thrashing around her with great ferocity. It created wind where there was none, could be none. With the wind came a sweltering heat that made Ryuken sweat. The wind and heat pushed Ryuken and Isshin as far away from Nelliel as possible.

Ryuken started leaning on the window to get away from the pressure. Isshin did the same, with an arm in front of his forehead so he could see what was going on. Ryuken could hear the walls being scratched as the light grew bigger and the wind stronger. Ryuken swore he hear the glass shift behind him and, for a moment, felt uncertain.

Once it settled, the light revealed a new creature. She was there, Ryuken could recognize her from the mask and the hair, but the rest of her was completely different. She was a centaur twice her original size, with the extra set of legs taking up most of her new form. Her torso had green hair, while anything below the waist of her more human looking half was sandy brown. On her head, her mask had grown so that it looked like the skull of a monstrous ram. It was closer to her head and looked more like an extension of it, as her horns rested on either side of her ears. Her zanpakutou was gone and in its place was a mammoth of a lance. He held it up over her right shoulder with one hand and looked ready to charge.

It would have been a little disturbing to see her transform from mostly human to something far more animalistic, but Ryuken already knew all this from the archive room. Isshin appeared a little surprised, if only because he was witnessing the transformation from girl to woman to a hollow within a few minutes.

The ritual was only half done. Nelliel took a couple steps back to hit her target right. Ryuken watched avidly. This was his plan becoming reality. This was how they'd escape. If this didn't work they were stuck here and his son would be dead forever. She spoke the words of her next move slowly as if she needed them to be understood.

_Lanzador Verde._

She threw it and in a flash of a spinning red glow the door and the wall were gone. There had been perhaps five seconds where the lance had paused, the door offering some resistance. Yet, the lance spun and ground whatever strength the door had into dust, blowing it, and the wall beside it, into rubble. It ended with the sound of a large crash.

Isshin loudly exhaled, then grinned and slapped Ryuken on the back. When Ryuken didn't react, he gave him a concerned look.

"Hey, smile a little, the plan of yours worked," he said in mock astonishment. He raised his arms to the sky. "We're free!"

Ryuken nodded, acknowledging Isshin's excitement. He found that his hands were shaking. He stared at them for a moment and then tucked them into his pockets.

He walked closer to Nelliel and surveyed the damage. The ground was covered in chunks of soul synthesized material, which all looked like gleaming white concrete. The door was in around a hundred pieces between the white chunks. On the plus side, he immediately felt his powers return, as did Isshin who grabbed his katana and strapped it above his hip. From here, they could take one of three hallways, left, right and straight, though only left seemed to head towards a significant reiatsu.

It had been a noisier escape than he had wanted, and he was frankly surprised that arrancar weren't surrounding the exits. He didn't sense anyone coming either. For a change, Ryuken tried not to think of the implications. He could do that in a minute, when he was on his way to Szayel's laboratory.

"Am I done here? No further responsibilities?" Nelliel said, still in her released form. She emphasized the word 'responsibility' with more than a little spite. Ryuken hadn't expected her to talk and was taken aback. It felt odd to hear a new body talking with a familiar voice.

"One last thing," Ryuken said, wishing he had checked this before he had gotten himself captured. He recalled a name from the archives. "The scientist one, Szayel Aporro Granz, I need to find him."

Nelliel looked curious but didn't ask any questions. "His laboratory is on the lower level. If he's not sucking up to Lord Aizen, he'll be there. The stairs are close by. Anything else?"

"No, thank you for all help you've given." He assumed the question was a pleasantry. He doubted she would take another command from him without first skewing him on her lance. He was surprised enough that she had answered his question.

It would have been nice to have an ally as strong as her, but Ryuken couldn't trust a hollow beyond his desire to survive. Even given the option, helping them escape was all he would ask.

"Just don't ever ask for it again." There was a brief glow around her form as she shrunk back to adult proportions. Her sword hung by her side where it was before. Nelliel jumped out of the room, turned right into the hallway and then started running.

Ryuken ambled around the rubble and looked into the hall. Nelliel was already long gone. After a few seconds Ryuken couldn't even hear her footsteps. Isshin meandered into the hall beside Ryuken.

"You know, we probably should have said a little more than thank you," he said, matching Ryuken's gaze down the hall.

The only response he received was the sound of Ryuken's feet as he walked off towards another prison cell.

* * *

Chad dropped the arrancar's body onto the ground, panting. The creature was unconscious. He wasn't sure if he had killed it. He hoped he hadn't, that wasn't his style, though he wouldn't complain if he had. Killing hollows that looked like monsters was one thing. These creatures looked like people. Killing them would leave a bad taste in his mouth.

On the other hand, he was certain that no one would miss the devil. Aizen wouldn't for sure. The arrancar had explained that much on his own. He was a Privaron Espada, a reject who had lived past his time. Apparently the arrancar were no longer grown, and the original warriors like him became old and antiquated.

It was a little sad. Given the arrancar's skill there was no way the devil was ever returning to Aizen's elite, even if the hollow had defeated him. Chad had no illusions of his own ability. He doubted he was as strong as the sixth rank Espada, perhaps not even the seventh. His own defeat wouldn't have amounted to a success. A pat on the head if he was lucky, and nothing more.

He was surprised the devil could speak Spanish. It was almost impressive. Many of hollows seemed to know Spanish words but he doubted they could all speak the language. The words just happened to be part of who they were. But, this one, Dordoni (or a name that sounded like that), actually understood the words he was saying. It wasn't as if they had had a conversation, they spent too much time exchanging blows for that, but the few words they did say were entirely in Spanish. Chad liked to think they had some mutual respect for each other.

At the very least Chad was grateful. The devil had helped him realize the true nature of Chad's abilities. It took a few punches, a near defeat for it to come to him. He was like a hollow. He couldn't explain it, his arm just felt at home here, in Hueco Mundo. He had felt it in his first fight, excitement, like someone was welcoming him to a place he had never been but always knew existed. It had disturbed him at first, but the devil helped convince him otherwise.

_Unless you're at your strongest, this fight has no meaning. Show me what you can do!_

That's when his left arm transformed. He now had the Brazo Izquierdo del Diablo to accompany his right arm. It symbolized his will to fight and move forward. Defence was now his right arm's responsibility. The transformation also came with a new phrase. It appeared whenever he made a fist with his new hand. _La Muerte_. He only needed to use it once for Dordoni to fall.

_You did well, boy. _

The death. That was the power he now had inside him. No doubt his Abuelo would not have been pleased, but Chad could live with that. Abuelo was his foundation. Chad could choose how to live his life from there. There was a time that Chad was too strong for his opponents and too arrogant to treat them well. Abuelo had taught him better and he now knew what it meant to fight for a reason, so that when he fought it would be for his friends and not for his own amusement. His right arm would fight with those lessons at heart. His left arm would be his own.

He had felt an odd sense of pride from the hollow's last words. This was the other reason he hoped the hollow was still alive. Chad wanted to give his thanks for what Dordoni had done. It was only fair. He waited for a few minutes to see if the arrancar would wake up. After they passed he decided it was a bad idea to stay in one place for too long. He gave the hollow one last look before leaving. Chad couldn't tell if Dordoni was satisfied, though he suspected the devil never would be. Regardless, he didn't look like he would be waking up any time soon. Chad mumbled a 'thank you' and then walked further into Aizen's castle. His friends were still waiting.

As he entered the next hallway, he checked for spiritual pressure. There was nothing unusual. This far away from the centre, the Espada's energies felt like a single mass that overwhelmed everyone else's. He was never very good at sensing these things. He didn't know if it was lack of talent or lack of practice, though he wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter. Until now, he didn't have a reason to try. He usually just followed Ichigo into battle. Still, even he couldn't ignore the madness their reiatsu had produced in the middle of his last fight. Dordoni had noticed as well, pausing to see what it was. He said they were celebrating. Chad hadn't asked why. If Aizen's elite was happy, it couldn't mean anything good for him.

It had died down quickly, fading off into the walls. Chad couldn't keep his mind off it. Once his time with the arrancar was over that was all he could think about. That pounding – it felt like a heavy metal band trying to play a baroque symphony. There were moments where he heard hesitation, while others expressed excitement. Their reiatsu played the music of their being. He wondered what exactly had happened that had made the Espada show such insane joy. And, what that meant for his friends.

He walked at a measured pace through the hall, careful not to run into someone he shouldn't. He stayed close the walls. The Espada weren't as close anymore. He could feel them all going somewhere else. Chad didn't want to end up walking right into one of them, especially if they were higher level. That would be a disaster. He had his friends to think about. If he was captured or killed, it would defeat the whole point of coming here. Chad finally had an opportunity to show his strength, force that came from his burly body and from his will. He wanted to show that he was useful and how far he was willing to go to help them.

He had tried in the past and it had worked for a long time. Against other human beings, beings of the living world, his will was enough. He could withstand any attack and get back up again. When he didn't want to fight back, he was strong enough to wait out the blows. And, when he needed to fight his strength was there, the muscle had come naturally to him. When he had agreed with Ichigo to defend each other and fight for the one another, he had assumed that he already had all the power he needed. He had believed that he would be strong so long as he willed his body to continue. As long as he picked himself up from the ground as many times as was necessary to finish the job, he would win.

It was only once he became involved with hollows that he realized how weak he was. He had felt embarrassed from Soul Society, his desire to help Rukia and protect the others outclassed by sheer power. His usual strategy didn't work in Soul Society. It worked less against the arrancar. He remembered the shame he felt when he awoke to find his right arm bleeding. From a single punch, he had been torn apart.

For a several days, he couldn't look at Tatsuki or Orihime. When he saw them in class he would put his head down and avoid eye contact. When they tried to talk to him, he had nodded to what they had said, not paying attention. He was too busy thinking about how to get stronger so that he would never be humiliated like that again.

After his training with Urahara, and especially after his right and left arms awakened, he felt renewed. Now was his opportunity to prove himself. He could show that he was stronger now, more capable. He wouldn't fall apart after a single punch. And, he would be wise enough to avoid a situation where that could happen.

After what felt like an hour of walking, the stark hall didn't appear to be leading him anywhere. From what he saw outside, Las Noches was massive enough that a hallway like this could extend for ages. Still, he didn't understand what the point was of having paths that went nowhere. Or at least nowhere for a very long time. His solution was to stop trying to measure the time and just trudge ahead.

Chad thought about the elder Ishida, Ryuken. It had been a surprise to meet him in person, not to mention the circumstances. It made sense that he was here: his son had been stolen. He didn't know how, and didn't really care. He figured he wasn't supposed to know Ishida's father was here at all. The man had implied that much at the crossroads and all the time he had spent with Nel. They barely spoke to each other. Chad felt a sort of ruthlessness from him. Ryuken was set on his path and wouldn't be distracted by anyone. It was a path of efficiency.

Where ever he was now, Ishida's father must have felt the madness as well. Chad wondered if Ryuken was any closer to it than he was. Maybe he had picked the right path, one that led right down to where they were keeping the prisoners. For Inoue, Kurosaki and Ishida's sake, he hoped so.

New light came eventually and shone down the hallway. It was warmer too, the light bringing heat as edged closer. He felt moisture start to form on the walls that bordered Hueco Mundo's infinite desert. He was relieved. Finally there were signs that he wasn't walking in a circle.

Chad was elated to see the end of the hallway. The light was blinding now. He had spent long enough in the dark that any new light strained his eyes. He walked inside the new room. At first, he couldn't see anything clearly, but then his eyes adjusted, just in time to see a fist coming right at him.

He couldn't block it. It pummelled into his stomach and the wind ran out of him. He looked for the foe, but found none. There was another punch, landing exactly where the one before it had. Spit and blood flew out of his mouth. It wasn't enough for the assailant. He grabbed Chad by his arm and threw the boy into the air.

As Chad grasped for his breath, he felt like he was drowning. He was weightless. He had no oxygen. And the only place he could go was down. He didn't get the chance as someone jumped up to meet him and kicked him into the far wall.

Chad heard a crunching noise, followed by a throbbing pain in his head and chest and back. He tried not to move. That was all he could think about. Moving meant falling. The wall held him for a few seconds, Chad tried to hold on longer, but he hadn't even summoned his arms. He slipped and fell towards the ground. He landed face-first.

_So much for being careful, _Chad groaned.

"In the end you are no match for me," the attacker said. There was some strain in his voice as he spoke. "Only five seconds, and you've already fallen flat on your face. You're not the challenge I was hoping for."

Chad recovered faster than he expected. Once he took in a breath of air, he realized there had been few lasting effects of the assault. He stood up and summoned his right and left arms. The spirits of the giant and the devil were restless. He could hear the wail of his shield and the thirst for battle in his left arm. His opponent tried to hide his surprise, but Chad caught it. The arrancar made a flicker with his eyes, and sweat. He hadn't expected both arms.

"You are facing Arrancar number 107, Gantenbainne Mosqueda," Mosqueda said, folding his arms over his chest.

Compared to his words and strength, the arrancar looked funny. He had dark skin with a massive orange burnt afro. The afro was about twice the size of his head, and was the first thing Chad noticed. He guessed that was what everyone noticed first. It was hard to miss a giant ball of orange hair.

The coat Mosqueda wore was big for his chest and had bloated frills around the collar. Mosqueda must have had his uniform personalized. Why he made it look like a rodeo clown, Chad didn't understand. His hollow mask looked like a pair of sunglasses, teeth on its edge, and a star in the centre. Chad summed him up as looking like a basketball player from the circus. It was hard for Chad to take the guy seriously.

"Wipe that smirk off your face. It's useless, boy." Mosqueda went on. "Your attacks will never hit me, Yasutora Sado. I know your type. Big and human, it means you're slow. You won't be able to catch up."

Chad hadn't realized he was smiling. He made his usual impassive look instead. He put what he knew together about his opponent. He was fighting against 107, the seventh of the Espada exiles, and he fought based on speed. Chad didn't see any way he could lose.

"We don't need to do this. I don't want to kill you," Chad said. The arrancar glared at him as if to ask if he was serious. "I want you to answer some questions."

"Kill me? You haven't even hit me yet."

"I haven't tried."

"Oh, now that is big talk coming from a guy I just slapped across the room."

"You were lucky," Chad replied. Mosqueda grinned and laughed a little. It sounded forced, like he was making a polite response to an unfunny joke.

"We'll see about-" Mosqueda, in an instant, ran the distance between them, moving in to grab Chad by the neck, "that!"

Chad saw this coming and smashed his shield into Mosqueda's head. He stumbled back and Chad swung his shield again before Mosqueda could recover. Chad grabbed the arrancar by the frills of his coat, and pulled him close so he could punch him with his left arm. Three hits and then Chad threw him aside.

Mosqueda outlasted the attack. He landed on his feet and gripped onto a handle on his sleeve Chad hadn't bothered to take into account. The handle was attached to two spikes and as Mosqueda made a fist a ball of orange electricity grew between them. The arrancar charged back towards Chad, but stopped a few feet away to make his attack. The ball exploded forward and shot an energy blast right at Chad. Chad didn't have time to go out of the way, so blocked it with his shield. The attacked fizzled out.

Chad's right arm stung from the blast. He shook it off the best he could, and then went in before Mosqueda could do it again. He went to kick Mosqueda, but the arrancar caught it with his hands and tried to force Chad into air for another volley. Chad used Mosqueda's hands as a boost, jumping before he could be launched. The arrancar jumped up to meet him.

That was the wrong move. Chad took his right fist, and let the energy pour into it. There was a flash of blue light behind his shield. It all flowed out towards Mosqueda, the wave of blue energy crashing into him. It was Mosqueda's turn to be knocked into the wall.

Once the rock settled and Chad could see through the dust, did he realize that the arrancar had not yet given up. Chad really didn't want to kill another one of his opponents, but it looked like he wouldn't have a choice. Mosqueda had used his resurreccion, and had what looked like a cream and yellow armadillo's shell across his arms and shoulders. The spiked push daggers were attached to the shell, though they were shorter and wider than before.

"I'll give you some credit, you don't match the type. I guess it's time I took you seriously," Mosqueda said, clearly proud of his new form. As he walked out of the rubble, Chad saw that the armadillo shell formed a cape behind him. He made a quick smile.

"Please, I don't want to have to finish this," Chad said, looking right at Mosqueda. "We should talk. It would be better for both of us."

"There's been too much talking if you ask me," Mosqueda brought the edges of his daggers on both hands together and an orange light grew between them. He grunted, "If you're going all out, it's only fair that I do too."

Mosqueda screamed and threw the ball of electricity at Chad. It came at him with lightning speed. Chad just held out his left hand and let it come to him. It touched his palm and for a second it burned, but that feeling went away quickly. His arm was eating some of the energy while the excess went around him.

"This will have to be it then." Chad let the electricity go back through his arm, to his finger tips where sparks danced. He brought his hand into a fist, and ran at the arrancar. Mosqueda tried to dodge, but Chad caught him with his other hand. It was time for 'La Muerte'.

When he fell to the floor, Chad wondered if he had heard the rocks form around him into a skull, or felt the armadillo shell being ripped apart at the seams. There was literally no trace of it. Chad's attack had destroyed it and his punch daggers. Chad hoped the arrancar hadn't heard or felt any of it and checked if he was still alive. To Chad's surprise, he was.

_I might actually get some answers when he wakes up. _

Mosqueda regained consciousness within a few minutes. His groggy eyes opened up to see Chad hovering over him. Chad's arms were back to normal. After using La Muerte, his arms had felt tired and were starting to drain him.

"What do you want, Yasutora? Be done with it," Mosqueda moaned. "The fight's over. You won. Now finish me off."

"I don't want to."

"Great, guess that leaves me here to rot instead," Mosqueda said and laughed painfully. Chad watched him as Mosqueda used his hands to drag the rest of his body towards the wall with the skull crator. Mosqueda looked at the ceiling for a few minutes and waited for Chad to do something. Chad just continued to look at him. The arrancar was bleeding. Chad didn't know how that worked, how hollows had blood, but there it was, a stain on Mosqueda's chest that grew and grew.

"Are you going to watch me die?" Mosqueda said.

"No, I'll be gone before that," Chad said, taking a few steps closer. "Besides, you're not dying. You guys heal pretty fast. You'll be okay."

Mosqueda laughed again. "You're wrong. We are the dead, dying is all we can do." He smiled at Chad. "Don't pity us. This is how we live. Victory and an honourable death are all we have."

Chad made a slow half-nod. "It doesn't matter. I'm not going to kill you."

"That's fine. I'm dead either way," Mosqueda laughed at his own joke. "What do you want, if not my life?"

"Tell me where my friends are."

"Ah, that's what you want, a solution." Mosqueda said. "You're barking up the wrong tree. I have nothing to say."

"Why not?" Chad took another step closer and then squatted beside the arrancar. It looked like bleeding had stopped, though Mosqueda's shirt was dyed a dark red.

"Easy, I don't know where they are."

"Is that a lie?" Chad asked, and stared right into the arrancar's eyes. Mosqueda tried to avoid his gaze.

"What if it is? What would you do then?"

"Use you as a punching bag until you told me the answer. Not much else I could do." Chad replied. It was a bluff, for the most part. He didn't think he could take torturing anyone, even an arrancar. It wasn't his style. It was another thing Chad had resigned to never doing. "So, is it?"

Mosqueda hesitated before answering. Chad continued to stare. Abuelo had taught him that you could catch a lie in the eyes of the man telling it. If he faltered or tried to escape your gaze, if he sweated and breathed harder under your watch, he was a liar and you shouldn't trust him. Chad understood that it was a rule of thumb rather than an actual test, but it worked more often than not. Mosqueda didn't look away.

"No. I know nothing. Lord Aizen only told me to try and kill you. I knew you were after your friends and he said that there might be a promotion if we defeated one of you," he chuckled again. For whatever reason, he seemed to be in a happier mood now that they weren't fighting. Chad was starting to like the guy. "Yeah, now there's a lie if I ever heard one. Such bullshit. We were cannon fodder."

"Then why'd you do it?"

"It was a job. Might as well."

"All right."

Chad moved away from Mosqueda, walking over to the centre of the room. He hadn't had a chance to get a good look at the room they were in during their fight. Like the other arenas, the room was lofty; Chad guessed around three times his height. The walls were plain white like every other room, while the floor was covered in tiles, each with a small square in them. The room had two entryways, one from the way he came in, and one off to the side. Chad hadn't seen it until he looked. The exit was tucked away in the corner with two doors that were the same colour as the rest of the room. He opened the doors to look inside it. There was another dark white hallway.

_Now what?_ There had to be something more to do than wander around until he found the exit. He could test his luck and hope he runs into another arrancar, one that was weaker than him and knew where Ichigo, Uryu and Orihime were. Although, it was as likely that he would end up lost until it was too late. He thought about Mosqueda. As a Privaron Espada, he had to know something that could help Chad. He was once an Espada after all.

"Human, get out of here," Mosqueda said. "I don't like people who hang around. You're pissing me off."

"One more question, how do I get to the centre, where all the Espada are?" Chad turned back towards Mosqueda. The arrancar started coughing hard with a dumb grin on his face. Chad realized he was laughing.

"Beautiful! You want death more than I do!" Mosqueda forced himself to calm down. Slowly he stood up, putting pressure against the wall to hold his body. He beckoned Chad closer.

"You're lucky, this is an answer I know. The halls are all controlled by one of Lord Aizen's deputies. If he wants you to go nowhere, that's where you're headed. In a couple of them, there's a shaft that goes straight down to the main room where the Espada all go. Find it and you'll be there in no time."

"Why did you tell me this?"

"You're going to die. I might get a reward if I speed things up for the Lord," the arrancar shrugged. "So hurry up and get the hell out of here."

"Thanks."

Chad walked out of the room and left the heavy doors ajar. He didn't want to talk to the creature any more than he had to. Time was short.

There was a slam, followed by a clicking sound. He turned around to see what it was. The doors were closed behind him. He grasped the handle and tried to push it open. The door was locked. Chad thought about it, and came to the conclusion that he was fine with a locked door. He didn't want to have a reason to go backwards. A locked door would give him more incentive to keep walking to his goal.

He started to head back out when he heard voices coming from the room behind him. Mosqueda was speaking loudly for some reason. He paused, trying to catch what he was saying. There was a booming yell. Then silence.

Chad marched away from the door. He heard a clawing noise behind him. It came closer, until he could hear it scratching the doorframe. It made a high pitched sound. He didn't want to look, but the temptation was too strong. He made a small glance and noticed a blade coming through the space between the door and the frame. It whacked at the hinges. Another blade came through the small gap, and then another and another. Soon there were ten all trying to cut through the doors.

By instinct Chad summoned his arms and started running. Now he really had a reason not to go back.

* * *

Szayel washed his hands under the scalding water. He needed to get Uryu's blood off his skin. He rubbed where the blood had landed and kept rubbing until that spot was raw and clean. He had already burned all of his clothes that had come close to the corpse and was removing the last traces of blood from his beautiful porcelain skin. It was stupid of him, so stupid of him, to take off his gloves during the ceremony. Thankfully, no one had seen the flaw. No one important anyway.

He had hoped the ceremony would be a mostly bloodless affair. When stabbing someone through the heart, one couldn't help but get some blood on his hands. What he hadn't prepared for was a hollow treating the dead body as an old mattress as he carried it through the halls back to Szayel's lab. The hollow, the malignant, destructive little shit, smashed the body into an overhead lamp. In his surprise, the hollow grabbed the body tighter, hit a major organ, which caused the body to cough up blood all over Szayel, who was walking happily in front of him. Needless to say, Szayel had decapitated the hollow on the spot. This had unleashed more blood from the hollow's corpse, but it was too late to care by then. Szayel coat was already ruined by human blood.

Once he had killed the stupid whelp that left the problem of who was going to carry the body. Szayel certainly wasn't going to do it. The best solution, and one he should have thought of the moment Aizen and the rest of the Espada left him alone, was getting the specimen to carry it himself.

The Quincy's spirit form had been arrested the instant it materialized and was trailing behind them. The specimen had been bound in rope by Lumina and Verona. They had tied his hand behind back while leading him forward by pulling on his soul chain. The fraccion each wore a muzzle over their mouths so they couldn't 'accidentally' eat the Quincy boy's spirit form. That would have been a nightmare.

Szayel had the fraccion untie the ropes that held the boy's arms together and told them to watch the rear from now on. As usual, the boy wasn't very cooperative, but after some prodding (him and his body) with a sword, he changed his mind. The journey back to his lab took longer than it would have normally as the boy struggled under the weight of his corpse. Yet, it was worth it. To see him struggle on his way back, it was a suitable revenge for the dishonour the boy had put him through. It was painful and ironic, not to mention a great reminder that the specimen was dead. He could hold his own body to prove it.

When they returned to the lab, Szayel went to have a shower. Lumina and Verona dealt with the specimen and his corpse as per Szayel's orders.

As soon as he was appropriately clean, Szayel had to pick out a new outfit, one that he didn't mind if it got a little dirty. He opened his dresser, a tall western style cupboard with two wide doors for blazers and shirts, categorised by use and date acquired. He took his all-purpose top, the one with three folds near his right shoulder and a pair of white pants from the third of ten drawers. Szayel preferred a hakama if he had the opportunity, however, they were too loose and he didn't want to risk them getting caught between lab equipment.

Next was an apron. He had a couple that also functioned as capes when he wanted to get fancy, though those were more stylish than practical. He picked a beige one that was fireproof and protective against corrosive material. All that was left was a nice, fresh pair of white gloves. He grabbed a pair from another drawer, put them on his hands, and clapped once they were on.

Szayel made a quick glance in the mirror to see if his attire appealed to his aesthetic. He made a cunning smile when it did and walked out of the dressing room. He chuckled when he realized he had almost forgotten his zanpakutou and hurried back to the dresser to get it.

"How's my favourite ghost doing? Excited, maybe a little angry?" Szayel said as he approached his specimen. The Quincy was attached to a metal sheet on the wall, where Szayel had examined him previously. The specimen made no effort to respond. Szayel tapped the boy on his bare chest. He had told Lumina and Verona to leave the boy no comforts. That included any garments that came with his spirit form. "Tired are you? I hope you aren't calling it quits now, we've still got a long way to go you and I."

The boy tilted his head away. He had a gag and couldn't talk, but it was odd that he wouldn't even try. No attempts to spit or yell? That seemed out of character for the Quincy.

"What, have you suddenly gone lethargic on me? Now is no time to be listless," Szayel said taking the Quincy's face by the jaw and made him look at his captor. Szayel looked at the boy right in the eyes. The boy tried to resist and squirmed out of Szayel's hands. To get his attention, Szayel tugged hard on the Quincy's soul chain. The boy grimaced and finally stared back with eyes of empty hatred. Szayel noticed some water accumulating around the specimen's cheeks. He dabbed at it with his index finger and then rubbed the liquid between his finger and his thumb. "Strange phenomenon, but don't worry, I can fix it."

Szayel let go and the boy went limp. He smiled at the response. It was about time his specimen actually cooperated with him. Szayel dropped his left hand to the boy's soul chain and delicately slid his hand down it, following it to the body. It lay across a table close to the metal vat where his less pressing experiments hung.

He took out his zanpakutou and with the same hand felt the edge to make sure it was sharp. It was important for his sword to have a good upkeep. A dull blade showed a dull mind.

"First things first, let's cut off this chain of yours." One cut of his zanpakutou sliced it right off. The chain dropped to the floor and flailed around. The boy made an audible gasp. "Alright, that's done."

Szayel ran to a nearby machine and twisted the top part over. He called it Pestilencia. It looked like a block of white metal swivelled ninety degrees from its base. It was right above the specimen's corpse. He then clasped the hooks in the top to a rail on the ceiling and detached it from the swivel. In the centre of the machine was a small cylindrical hole that grew after Szayel hit the on switch. He picked up the part of the chain that was still connected to his specimen and slid it into the hole, in reality an artificial version of the little devils that ate up a soul chain. The major difference was that his process would be a lot faster.

He went to his central computer and activated the automated process that would chew up the soul chain until it was right at the boy's chest. A blue light came from the cylindrical gap and started spinning around quickly. Szayel heard a sizzling noise come from the chain, as Pestilencia dissolved it with a special acid.

There was a muffled scream from the boy, which meant the machine was working. Destroying the soul chain at this rate caused a lot of stress on the dying spirit and Szayel hadn't thought of an anaesthetic to dampen the pain. It had been one of the projects he had been working on prior to capturing the specimen, but he had never gotten around to it. It didn't matter now, besides, if it became too loud, that's what earmuffs were for.

He checked the timer on the machine. There was still another hour until the chain would be close to the boy's chest. After that he'd have to transfer his old abilities to his new body and then force feed the boy at least a hundred hollows to build up his strength.

The second part would require some precise surgery as he combined parts of his physical body with his spiritual one. It was would make him unique. He would be a Quincy even in death, even upon becoming a hollow. He had devised the process by reverse engineering the imperfect model Lord Aizen had found. She was still human in many ways, transformed without ever really dying.

As he waited for the process to complete Szayel found his mind slipping into thoughts about her. He wondered who made her and why. Past the metaphysical questions, he often thought about her face. Despite the state she was given to him in her face had been perfect. She had looked nearly alive. Szayel stared over to where she hung now, drooping from the ceiling over a chemical vat. She was still like that now. She appeared still alive, only asleep.

Szayel snapped out of his daze. He shook his head, momentarily disgusted that he had even considered that thing in a pleasant light. It was a broken product made by a flawed creator.

He would deal with the imperfect model later. He looked back over to the boy, who was squirming in his restraints as Pestilencia melted down his chain. He was so close to the end of this. He had suffered some indignity, but he was sure it would be all worth it in the end. He was already grand ideas for what might follow his success here. Promotion in the Espada maybe? He could get a nice number seven for this. They could switch him with Zommari and then finally kick out that oaf, Yammy to make way for his creation. Even without the promotion he could make a lot of good by having influence over another seat in the Espada. He could make an ally he could trust for a change, instead of short alliances that never lasted beyond their conception.

Szayel returned to reality when he heard a beeping noise come from his computer. Apparently, Rubon and Ulquoirra had sent a message for him. They could wait. Right now he was making art. The machines were his paint and that specimen would be his canvas. He had no doubt in his mind that the result of this experiment would become the greatest thing he ever created.


End file.
